Changeling part 12 to 22 (Patreon)

Part 12

Nestra rang the bell for the third time and then slammed her fist on the door. It would not break easily. Reinforced hinges, frame possibly dug into the wall. Whoever owned this place had made some effort to keep it secure.

From the average junkie, that is. She was the police. The hammer of justice. Also, she had explosive charges in her breast pocket.

Something moved behind the door. Nestra wasn’t sure how she knew, probably a sound at the edge of her hearing. A shoe against an umbrella holder? There was someone there.

“We have a warrant,” she said. “That means we’re coming in with the gate open or broken. You have thirty seconds. Your call,” she said.

Ten seconds later, the gate opened. By her side, Shinoda gave her a curious look while a tired man in dirty coveralls leaned by the frame, jaw clenched in panic. He was of Arabic descent, a rarity in Threshold where the overwhelming majority of the population came from Asia and Oceania.

“We’re here for the Gidung excavation equipment. We know you have it because you failed to deactivate the GPS. You will lead us there and open the garage door.”

The man hesitated. He was scared. Nestra could see it in the way his eyes checked the deserted, filthy street behind her, the tension in his shoulders. She could almost smell it in his sweat, an acidic waft that marked him as a victim. Prey, not instigator. Weakling. Boring.

“Mr… Chaarani, was it? You are the owner of this place?” Shinoda asked in a softer voice.

Chaarani latched onto him like a dying man to a buoy. His posture changed though his eyes kept returning to Nestra. She waited there for Shinoda to work his magic. This little contest was already over.

“Yes? I mean… I am?”

“Not legally, of course, however the city has a record of permanent inhabitants. I know there are considerations made to transfer ownership to you in the near future. Hence why we have a warrant.”

“Oh, really? This is great news? I think?”

“There is still the matter of illegally acquired equipment on your property,” Shinoda continued with a smile.

“Stolen corpo machinery. Expensive machinery,” Nestra added with bared teeth.

She was getting the hang of that bad cop routine.

“It would be a shame if you were found to be a fence, of course. But I am sure this gear was left in your care without your knowledge. Ne?”

“I mean…”

The man licked his lips. There it was. The little bit of spine before the end.

“You are making a mistake. Maybe the GPS is wrong?”

Nestra casually grabbed her handcuffs. Mr Chaarani’s eyes widened in alarm even as Shinoda slowly made to lower her wrist. She let him, of course. It was all a little game.

“Chotto matte. Sir, is that really how you want this to go?”

The canny detective looked like someone had just kicked his puppy. The spine melted.

“Ah, come on in. I, err, probably know which package you are referring to. I think?”

Nestra followed Chaarani in his den, wary of ambush. The entrance led into an empty corridor. A passage left led to living quarters with a little girl peeking near the edge. Ventilation carried the scent of spices. A tajine, maybe. The man led them to the right, however, and into a large open space. Well lit if dusty. The Gidung crates waited on pallets by the exit, logo clearly on display.

Nestra gave the man a glare he had the decency to wither under.

“The gate, please,” Shinoda ‘requested’.

“Oh. Of course. Hmm, was there anything else?”

“Not unless we are forced to come back,” Shinoda said.

“And that would be a terrible loss of our time,” Nestra added just because it was fun.

“Haha. No. Then, hm. Good day.”

The pair walked into the stench of one of Fifteen’s less reputable areas. The pallets wouldn’t go anywhere without transport equipment so they contacted Knightley. It was her request. Their job was done. As they left, a female voice screamed insults through the nearest wall.

“It appears Mrs. Chaarani does not approve of her partner’s choices.”

“It’s always a bad decision if one gets caught,” Nestra said before realizing it could also apply to her.

“It is so, is it not? Eeeeeto ne. Now, we should probably lie in wait.”

“You’re pretty devious, actually. I’ll grab the snacks.”

“I accept your compliment with grace.”

***

The man wasn’t smart, but he had good instincts. That’s why he knew something was wrong when he left the manhole cover with the boss and there was a woman waiting for them by the Arab’s warehouse. That wasn’t right. Nobody waited for them. They waited for other people and then they came out and the people got scared. That was normal. The girl was pretty and pale like those gleam trophy girls he saw on vids. She didn’t belong here. Too confident. That wasn’t normal.

She was wearing expensive corpo stuff that looked like armor. Like the top gangers used to own. That was even less normal.

She was finishing a bowl of soup.

That was fucked up. Nobody ate in front of the boss. That was so disrespectful. She was giving him some colors to see. And the boss’ face was very thin.

“Ah? Ni gan shaa, biaozi?”

The woman smiled. She had eyes the color of dirty snow, and just as cold. He didn’t like it.

“Mr. Lang, I assume. My visor informs me you’re being fucking rude.”

The boss’ hands moved towards his vest. The man got scared. Either the boss would do his thing and there would be blood, and the man would have to clean up, or the laowai girl would do something and it would be even worse.

A voice sounded from behind and the boss froze. The man turned anyway. There was a police dog standing there in a ridiculous duster like he was from a hundred years ago, pulled from the screen like the gritty stars on his mother’s old TV.

“We were expecting you because we knew Mr Chaarani would want to report the loss of your prize. We know who you are and we know what you have done. Our profilers give it a 20% chance you will surrender peacefully. Nevertheless, we have to ask. You are under arrest, Mr Lang. You have the right to remain silent and the right to legal council should you—”

The boss sneered and the man took a step back. He knew what was going to happen. The boss was too angry to think straight.

There was a beep and the boss jerked.

The man could not help but stare at the little feathered metal thing digging into the boss’ neck. The boss’ face was scrunched like an old raisin. He fell to the side brutally, like furniture, not like a person. There was a nasty crack when his arm hit the curb.

It was very upsetting to see the boss fall like that.

The man looked back to the smiling face of the woman as the colorful gun thing in her hand, aimed at him. There was another beep.

“Have to calibrate it every time before shooting, otherwise the voltage could kill someone.  Anyway, what will it be?”

The man didn’t understand. All he could do was watch the boss fidget on the ground. Like a fish. Very weird.

“What my partner means is that you too must choose between peaceful surrender and what happened to Mr Lang.”

The man didn’t have to look at the crying face of the boss. The man was a survivor. He had good instincts. It was not even a question of calibration or whatever that was. The woman was dangerous because… she just was. That was it.

“I surrender.”

“Excellent. Please place your hands in the air —”

The woman cuffed him. He wondered how mad his mom would be this time. At least, he didn’t get shocked like the boss so it could have gone worse. Maybe the woman would let him have some of that soup. He asked. She stopped.

“You know what, it’s not everyday I meet a fellow foodie in the weirdest circumstances. It’s crab soup. You’re gonna love it.”

“Ah, Palladian-san, now I see what it takes for you to break protocol.”

***

“There is something wrong.”

The cruiser was almost in view. By her side, Shinoda checked the nearby roofs for danger but there was nothing in the desolate alley, nothing but trash and cracked concrete. This area of Fifteen stood at the edge of one of the ‘hot zones’, one of the ex strongholds of the gangs. Now, it was a husk. The ring of businesses around the defunct hive only survived by virtue of a lack of alternatives. Nestra waved Shinoda off before he could reach for his gun. The drones showed no signs of activity.

“Not that, the scent. It’s… so strong. Can’t you smell it?”

Shinoda shook his head. He frowned, seemingly frustrated.

“It’s… from there.”

Nestra could almost taste it on the tip of her tongue. Blood. So strong, and something else. Mana? Strange mana. Mana that had a perfume. Something heady, intoxicating. Some high gleams made perfume out of monster parts when those monsters had hypnotizing skills. Maybe it was similar, though not as strong. It certainly didn’t belong here.

“Follow?” Nestra asked, distracted.

“Yes. I will call it in.”

Nestra was already off. That scent was so strange it made her giddy with excitement. To think she would come across such an anomaly here! The floating perfume led her deeper into the maze of abandoned warehouses and ruined production facilities and then through a broken fence to, unexpectedly, a field. Her swarm of drones flew above wild grass and stacked crates to give her a view of a small valley nestled between the backyards of several factories. Suspicious stone marked several spots, forming a familiar pattern.

“Is that… a graveyard?”

“An illegal one, then. This is supposed to be a landfill, Palladian-san. How curious.”

Nestra moved deeper into the overgrown maze of wild vegetation, her guard kept up. If there was one place where a breach could have occurred, it would be here where surveillance had failed in the recent weeks, but nothing came out to eat her. The ambient mana was barely perceptible except for that one compelling smell. They made their way to the only structure standing on the field. It might have started as a shed but now, strangely, it was a mausoleum.

“That's impossible. Who would bring white stone here?”

Statues lined the white walls. Basic gargoyles and praying figures. It was all very medieval religious and completely out of place on a continent that did not exist sixty years before. Nestra approached the only gate, a monumental entrance made of two solid slabs. Coppery hinges showed no signs of wear and tear. Really, the only proof this place had existed for a while came from moss crawling over the rocky surface. It was all very weird.

“Nanda to?”

“Am I hallucinating?”

“Palladian-san, dispatch says this place didn’t register as anomalous by drone view because the roof is still made of metal.”

“No movements. Should we…”

“I suggest we wait for reinforcements.”

Nestra was curious. The demon in her just wanted to explore that curious place. Unfortunately, her human self was held back by her hierarchy and the natural squishiness of baselines. They waited in silence. Shinoda was nervous though he didn’t show it much. There was a bit of sweat on his brow while his eyes searched around for threats despite Nestra sharing the feed of her drones. It took only thirty seconds for a gleam to actually fly down from the sky. Nestra recognized him immediately.

“Valerian?”

The life gleam passed a hand through his dark blond hair, looking a bit like a surfer as he did. By contrast, his armored white vest had enough scruffs to show he had seen action. It was just a shame that he’d been on the receiving end, if Nestra remembered correctly.

“Hello Nestra. Yeah, it’s me. I’m covering you today!”

“You… know each other?” Shinoda asked in a low voice.

“Ah, but where are my manners? Valerian, this is Shinoda Yuuji, an experienced detective and my partner.”

“Hajimemashite,” Shinoda greeted with a small bow.

“Ah, no need for this Detective Shinoda. I am Valerian of House Nephrite. I am sure we will have more time later. For now, let me open that gate for you.”

“Is it safe?”

“We’ll find out soon enough. Miss Palladian, I understand you have access to surveillance equipment?”

Nestra had to race back to the cruiser to retrieve her bag of tricks. A brief inspection revealed the gate was just that — a gate, but a camera under the frame only showed darkness. No obvious traps.

“There is a lot of blood mana here,” Valerian said.

He didn’t seem too concerned.

“Darkness too,” Nestra added.

“You can tell? Hmmm. Yes, you’re right. It’s subtle. In any case, not enough of it for a major trap so I should survive. You two better step aside.”

“Shouldn’t we call a team?” Shinoda said.

“Right now we have nothing except a suspicious scent and unnatural darkness. Could be a dokkaebi den from an old breach, in which case I’m enough to handle it. And there is a team on the way…”

Shinoda and Nestra exchanged a glance. They knew what team would show up. They walked back to the edge of the clearing and waited for Valerian to do his thing. The gleam pressed his hands against the gate’s panes. They rotated inward with a cavernous sound. For a supposed weakling, Valerian had a shit ton of upper body strength. Nestra was a little impressed.

A cloud of darkness dissipated harmlessly into the fetid air.

“Hooooooly shit,” Valerian said.

He froze.

Nestra raced forward with the Window Maker out, Shinoda right behind her. She stopped in front of the entrance and took in the interior, now revealed after the dark seal evaporated in the late morning air.

“Hoooooly shit,” she whispered.

Eyes carved on the stone surrounded the naked corpse of a woman, still fresh despite all odds. Ritual scarings covered most of her body while a mop of dark hair covered her face. The eyes themselves were painted a variety of colors and no two were the same. Reptilian pupils, feline gazes, wolfish stares, even a gleam iris all took in the morbid spectacle with emotionless attention. With the seal breached, the scent of blood mingled with that of magic rose from a subtle touch to a pungent stench. It was horrifying, and Nestra felt terror crawl up her back like a creepy stare. There was a hunter on the loose, and this one… was much more dangerous than she was. The meticulous attention given to the carvings and the scars spoke of patience and a complete lack of empathy. This was the work of hours of focused dedication from a very sick, very determined mind.

She was in waaayyyyy over her head.

“Ok let’s, errr, call it in now,” Viridian said.

Nestra turned to Shinoda to see if he had something to add, but all she could see was his hunched, retreating form. He was clearly in distress. She couldn’t blame him to be honest. At least, he sat at the edge of the clearing so she could keep an eye on him.

“Kim says the forensic team is on the way. She notified the TPD’s Special Crimes division. They say they’ll take it from here. We merely have to keep the location secure.”

“Sure.”

Yeah, that was no longer her problem. Nestra had her plate full without adding a psychopath gleam on the list, because whoever had done that had used at least three different kinds of magic: darkness, stone, and blood, and that was C-grade shit at the very least.

While D-class learned to infuse their bodies with mana and unlocked their affinities, C-class gleams were building their cores. That meant they were not just stronger, they also had much, much more mana to play with than D-class. The average C-class raider could take on Demon Nestra, Valerian, and the three gleam stooges with a single hand. The difference was that significant.

Nestra was hopelessly outclassed.

No matter how much she wanted to find that hunter, even her hubris couldn’t push her to suicide like that. She wanted to go check on Shinoda instead but something stopped her. A small hover car landed close to them and from them, three familiar figures came out. Nestra did her best not to groan. Threshold’s shittiest gleams had arrived.

The tall anglo whistled as soon as he spotted the slaughtered victim.

“Damn, Palladian. You’re bad luck. Corpses everywhere you go.”

“Wish I could say the same of you,” Nestra replied without thinking.

They were weak and pathetic.

“We heard about you from the grapevine,” the stout one said. “They say you’re a frigid bitch.”

He sounded very matter of fact.

"I can tell you're trying to insult me and I can also tell you're not putting any effort into it."

The three men stopped approaching. Nestra felt very much like a fat deer eyed by a trio of wolves, except they were all in Threshold’s tame enclosure and she was secretly a lioness with a hunkering for underachieving meat.

“You sound like someone who’s never got the snot beaten out of them.”

“Again, wish I could say the same to you.”

“I’m sure it will happen sooner or later. Fifteen’s a wild place,” the mustachioed Korean said.

Nestra shrugged.

“Sure, we’re all bottom of the barrel here. Difference is you have no excuse.”

That concluded the discussion. The tall anglo physically dragged his two companions away from her. Nestra found herself wondering if she could take them on in human form, hold them back until reinforcements arrived. She probably could, if Valierian helped. He totally would too. She allowed herself a sneer as they flew away. She knew they would be looking at her, the fucking losers.

So that was done. Now to check on Shinoda. Fuck she’d rather fight with those guys than watch him face whatever demons haunted him. Not an option though. He needed her. She made her way to his spot and sat on the side.

The detective didn’t look up. He had this shell-shocked face she’d seen a couple of times, usually after bad portal breaks.

“I’m sorry. Are you okay? I mean, clearly no, but is there anything I can do to help?”

Shinoda smiled though it was very bitter.

“Ah, thank you for your care, Palladian-san. There is nothing to be done. Perhaps we could just stay here for a moment.”

“Ah. Of course.”

Nestra saw by his side, in silence. Shinoda’s chest moved too much which should be expected given the circumstances. The exaggerated motions placed him at the edge of the uncanny valley and that was something Nestra found troubling. He didn’t deserve that from her. He was just a wounded man doing his best. If there was one person who fit the uncanny valley, it was Nestra.

“It has been a long time, Palladian-san. A very long time. It still hurts me just as deeply.”

Nestra waited. Shinoda would speak on his own time.

“My son was the same age as the victim when he died. He was stabbed in a gang war over a stupid argument. A jacket. I had no idea he was even in a gang.”

Nestra didn’t say she was sorry. That word was weak and insufficient to the task, in her mind.

“My wife said we should use his death for our PR campaign in the next election. That it was what he would have wanted. I think I broke at that moment, not at the death but when I heard that sentence, because it summarized everything I had become. That is why I am here, Palladian-san. I do not need to explain my motivations to you, I think.”

Nestra shook her head. She understood atonement, at least.

“Every time I think I have made peace with myself, and every time, it all hurts like a salted wound. One more life cut short by someone else. I know I could not have saved her. She was dead a long time ago, and kept intact by enchantments. I have seen it done before. My heart does not know this. It will not listen.”

Nestra nodded. She’d heard a similar tale.

“My mom said something like that. She said that even decades later, a face reflected in a dirty window would remind her of the fallen. She said it would never stop.”

Shinoda finally turned to look at her.

“Your mother is a first-gen, yes?”

“Yeah and not a weak one either but… Australia during the incursion was hell on earth. Only three of her group made it out of, I think eight? Anyway, she knows loss. She says grief is like a shipwreck in a storm. At first you’re drowning then the sea calms down, and you think you’re saved, but this is the sea. There are always more waves. Sometimes you see them coming and sometimes not, but they come. And you’ll survive them too. You’ll be drenched and blinded but you’ll make it again so long as you don’t let go. And maybe because you didn’t let go, some other people won’t be shipwrecked.”

Shinoda nodded. He did so very slowly.

“Ah, thank you. This is a good metaphor. A moment for me please?”

Nestra left his side to give him some space, just as gleams landed from the sky dressed in armor that marked them as heavy hitters. They completely ignored Nestra to focus on Valerian so after a couple of minutes standing there like a traffic cone, she moved to the cruiser. Shinoda joined her fifteen minutes later, following which Nestra recalled her drones. She had kept an eye on him just in case. Couldn’t be too careful around here.

“Ah, Palladian-san. Are you perhaps a quirkie?” he asked as they took off.

“Don’t know what I am, if I have to be honest,” she replied.

“You perceive things we baselines do not. The way you move is also… very confident. I do not know how else to explain this since you have no augments.”

“Not sure either. Could be though.”

“You could get tested. Quirkie employees of the state gain benefits and free training.”

“Actually I’m fed up with medical exams and I would prefer to be left alone.”

Shinoda laughed, which turned into a painful cough. A nasty one. He removed an inhaler from his pocket and took a deep breath. His voice sounded clearer afterward.

“Ah, I understand you very well. I dislike hospitals too, though for different reasons. Well, keep it in mind at least. There is no reason to let Threshold enjoy your unique skills without recovering some of that tax money.”

“Hear hear.”

***

Part 13

It was night and Nestra was hunting, this time in the depth of a derelict recreation center. She scrunched her nose as another puff of dust rose from the room’s old tatami. The portal’s pale blue light didn’t do the abandoned dojo any favor. She checked the corners just in case but saw nothing but discarded equipment and the sad, dusty portrait of Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo. She would have taken it away. It was almost sacrilegious to leave it behind.

Nestra made sure all of her gear was secure before walking in. The benefactor had been clear. The void shark would not stop until one of them was dead, and the size of the portal showed it wouldn’t be an easy one. She didn’t really have a plan to deal with the shark but now she could feel it move under the surface of reality and that gave her an edge. It would be their third meeting. She would make it the last one. And then she would make void soup.

Salivating, Nestra slipped through the portal and found herself in a small recess leading to a circular arena. She recognized the setup immediately. Giddy, she took a few steps forward on a sandy ground and a door slammed shut behind her, splitting her from the entry portal. She now stood at the edge of an arena surrounded by high walls leading to rafters populated by elaborate stone statues. Magical torches provided a very bright yellow light that bathed everything under the natural rock ceiling, including her opponent as it kneeled on the ground. The entire room gave a feeling of a secret underground fighting pit for the discerning Roman patrician. This time, her opponent was a golem. A metal, manufactured one filled with energies. Light flashed behind the helm as it stood.

It was a dueling ground portal. Finally, the perfect set up to try her Scornful Crescent against a peer! So exciting! Well, not exactly a peer, she thought as she watched the scuffed construct take a few steps towards her.

Some golems were made of solid material and it was actually extremely difficult to pierce through solid metal with just the strength of one’s arm and another piece of solid metal. Portal worlds avoided difficulty spikes, to some extent, so this one was clearly a training model of rather low quality. The metal looked damaged and poorly made with defects and impact marks. Some of the runes let out occasional showers of sparks like a faulty outlet. For all its shabby make, it walked with confidence as it removed a massive two-handed sword from its back. Nestra thought the aesthetic was interesting. It reminded her of fantasy armor from the late twentieth century, more decorative than practical, and there was an emphasis on the upper parts as if it were meant to block overhead blows. Maybe it was. She took out her sword and moved forward to engage.

The golem pointed the blade forward and charged. Nestra charged as well, then twisted on herself while parrying at the last moment. As expected, the golem thrusted and she managed to push the blade aside, immediately moving into its guard. They exchanged fast blows while the golem moved back to try to use its superior reach but Nestra didn’t let it. Greatswords were extremely fast, much faster than some people believed, but so was she and her technique was better. She struck the chest plate several times and the helmet once though it failed to penetrate. She could use precision but she was having entirely too much fun! This was the first fencer she’d fought since maturing and she wanted to test her limits. She also wanted to see if the shark would come while she was fighting a relatively weak opponent.

Nestra managed to puncture the breastplate of the fifth try. Even with infusing her blade with mana, she was contending with thick enchanted metal, so, a decent enough result. She decided to take some distance and rely more on her strength. The armor was slightly more powerful than she was so contesting it required a bit of skill. She would strike at its arms and face before it could wind up for strong attacks. Their dance was an unequal one, and the golem couldn’t learn so she pushed it back, little by little. The golem’s defenses were whittled down until it suddenly disappeared. Nestra’s blade missed its leg just as it was aout to hit.

The golem now stood two paces back with its blade behind itself. She recognized the posture from training with her father an eternity ago. A pang of nostalgia and anger filled her heart. It was a mana art.

Gleams could manipulate mana into patterns that led to greater effect. Those were standard spells and mana arts. They were essentially the same thing but one threw energy and the other stabbed, so humans, as was their wont, split them and then argued for hours about which attack belonged to which. Nestra barely had to think. She charged and struck.

Mana arts were powerful. They were also rigid and predictable. Just as the golem delivered a devastating swing that could have cut her in half, she dove under it and struck, blade slamming into the golem’s elbow. The power of the attack worked against the golem and its arm was smashed, the armor dangling uselessly by a thread. Thick white energy bled from the opening like molasses leaving a broken container. The fire in the helmet dimmed. Nestra stood and lunged, catching the golem in the eyes.

“Hah!”

Her sword pierced through the helmet.

Runes flared and the golem collapsed. Thick, jelly-like essence bled from every hole until it fully evaporated into the air. It left behind nothing but mangled, cheap metal in a small pile.

Nestra felt the usual triumph and even a boost of power, this time directed to her resilience. She felt it could be comparable to actual metal armor, at least for her class now. It was… very strong. She really wanted to face human users, sometimes. Was just a shame they couldn’t be allowed to survive the experience.

A door opened at the end of the arena. Nestra took her time to check the golem’s remains first, in case she could find something interesting. Magical metal could fetch a decent price but this looked like a poorly mixed alloy and it would only be sold at scrap prices. She was looking at a couple hundred credits at most and she would have to lug it around to the end of the portal world and then back to the Nestracave. Again, if she lived in a more primitive society, this would have been a boon but here in Threshold they had systematic mining operations in recurring portals. Scrap magical metal was cheap. The sword was just an ugly slab of metal no one in their right mind would use. It wasn’t even properly sharpened.

Maybe she could bite it and see if this was what she was meant to eat? She hadn’t tried something new in a long time. She chomped on the golem’s sword and bit clean through the enchanted metal.

It sucked ass.

Nestra spat the scrap out. Not a steel muncher, thank whatever gods looked after her species. A part of her wondered if she could bite through weapons as a tactic but usually, when her head met a weapon, the weapon won so that sounded kinda stupid. Better not risk it.

She tried to feed the armor parts to her symbiote skin and received a dull, confused answer along the lines of ‘Are you seriously expecting me to eat THAT?’ Shrugging, Nestra moved through the gate. This one slammed shut behind her as well.

The next arena was slimmer and longer, more corridor than circle. The same elaborate statues sat above her to form a silent crowd. A bipedal beast stomped on the ground at a distance in the usual angry and confused routine she’d seen in foes who had not yet spotted raiders. It, no, he, she thought, noticing a loincloth. He reminded her of a minotaur but with a single horn and a head that was closer to an otter in shape if the otter had suffered from sudden decompression. Its body was muscular, reddish, and slightly asymmetrical. He wasn’t wielding a weapon, instead displaying impressive calluses on his hands. Damn, that thing could probably pick fritters directly from the billing oil. The most striking feature was a pair of human-like eyes deeply set in his skull. They shone with muddled intelligence. Yet another portal creature denied sentience to serve as a stepping stone to raiders. Or as their end. She took a step forward and drew her blade.

The false minotaur spotted her in the same instant. He charged and the knuckles of his meaty fists gained a reddish hue. In the narrow corridor, the charge would be dangerous.

Above Nestra, reality churned like disturbed water.

“So you decided to show up,” Nestra muttered.

She moved forward. The creature took a wild swing.

Predictable.

Momentum carried Nestra under the blow. She put her left hand behind the pommel and infused the blade with mana. Precision guided her powerful strike between two ribs. The false minotaur’s inertia turned a dangerous attack into a suicidal one. Nestra carved through thick muscle like butter with enough strength to skewer her foe. She used her newest ability, immovable, to become a rock upon which the charge would break. She was over two meters tall by now so the false minotaur was barely higher than her, and the charge crashed against her like a wave upon rock. The false minotaur gasped. She’d skewered him, front to back.

She looked up in that moment between moments and saw the glint of surprise and panic in his eyes. A brief flash of relief turned that brutish face into a disturbingly human one when he realized he was dead but it was so fugacious she might have dreamt it.

Nestra struck to the side with a roar, gutting the beast and spreading a flood of blood and severed organs on the nearest wall. Her foe made a last ditch effort to grab her shoulder. His bloodied fingers slipped on her skin, the red light fizzling as he fell. He gasped for a few moments and then he was dead.

Above her, the shark swam through invisible eddies. She had been ready for it but, strangely, it didn’t attack. She glared at its agile form and realized why.

It was badly wounded. The bite mark on its dorsal fin had not healed yet, and new gashes had come to mar its shadowy skin. Sucker marks near the tail spoke tentacles as large as a car. There were deep gashes like teeth mark on its flanks as well. Some still oozed the milky liquid that acted as its blood. One of the eyes, the one Nestra had punched twice, remained puffy and sore. The beast tried to swim with its predatory grace but even she could tell pain made its movement more gauche. She lifted a brow.

“Well?”

It was in bad shape but it was still a predator, one the benefactor had said never let go.

The shark approached her and then rolled on its belly. The lazy movement exposed a lighter, softer expanse of skin, this one miraculously still intact. It remained here for a second before floating away. Nestra wasn’t sure but it looked surly. Its beady eyes followed her as it turned around to expose its belly again. A harsh, whistling sound emerged from its fanged mouth. It expressed frustration. Spite. Humiliation.

“You… want me to kill you.”

Another whistling hiss. It could understand her? It could understand her! Well, not really the words but more… the underlying emotions. And she could understand it. The hisses, they were not exactly familiar but the beast operated on the same level as she did. It was a raider. It was also a loner. And it was very, very arrogant. Probably an apex predator of some sorts.

Quite possibly a baby given the small size.

With a terrible sense of dread, Nestra anticipated the emotion welling into her chest.

“Oh no.”

Sympathy filled her. Here was a widdle shawk trying to survive by raiding worlds for food just like she did, and it was way on over its head like she was and now it had come to face death with dignity, giving the victory to the one who’d caused its fall and not some outer space squid opportunist or one of its siblings. The shark was here to die by the hand of the true victor, the only one who deserved it. Her. So, of course, she couldn’t kill it.

“OH NO.”

The sight of shark soup faded into the recess of her mind. There would be more opportunities for soup but only one for friend and it was cute and a little bit like her and she was so very, very, very lonely.

Maybe it could be tamed. It could, at the very least, communicate.

“Truce,” she said in her hissy language.

“Truce. Here.”

With more enthusiasm than skill, she hacked off the false minotaur’s forearm. She would check the actual species’ name later because she loved to feel smart knowing the latin name of monsters but that wasn't urgent. A toss of the severed limb and the shark struck out, making the meat disappear down its tenebrous gullet.

“More? More.”

Nestra fed the shark which sounded confused and not exactly grateful but cautiously curious, at least. The whistling gurgles coming from its maw felt more fierce and less, well, depressed.

“Fuck I’m already tamed. Ah whatever. You, void shark, shall be the first of my minions. I told Stib I wouldn’t be a leader but you are different. You have no social skills, just like me, hence why I accept your fealty. I dub thee… Sashimi.”

The newly named Sashimi let out a hiss of confusion. It was already looking better, possibly due to accelerated healing. The cuts on its flanks were visibly closing though the bite mark on its fin stayed there, the scar even more obvious now. It was a fair trade since the bite marks on Nestra’s triceps hadn’t completely faded yet. Also proved she was the top biter with the best teeth. Nestra decided that she felt good about herself despite how ridiculous this all was, and that worst came to worst, she could still eat the shark if it tried to betray her.

All good.

Probably.

For a couple of minutes, the shark circled Nestra, sometimes approaching her with a pissy hiss she returned by waving her sword. Come to think of it, the blade was growing increasingly short compared to her so she might have to upgrade later. More expenses… The shark continued to circle as she waited and kept throwing pieces of false minotaur. After a while, the movement felt less predatory and more relaxed, less guarded though the creature’s beady eyes kept glaring at her as if personally offended by her existence. Nestra wasn’t in a rush since D-class portals were lax when it came to time management. Eventually, she decided to move on. The void creature turned to face her then it shrieked one last time before accelerating. The meaning behind was painfully obvious.

Hunt.

Contest.

It… it was going to raid her world! Maybe eat her food!

“Sashimi noooooo!”

Needled by the entirely predictable betrayal, Nestra raced after the void shark and through another door. The next arena had platforms floating inside of a sphere-shaped cage. The spectator statues stood in lodges hanging in a void by mysterious means while flood lights bathed her with a blinding radiance. A fish monster as long as Nestra swam around, a sword-like protrusion on its nose shining a light blue color. She knew that one. Lesser Manaxyphias Managladius. An elemental swordfish, attuned to electricity apparently. Not a bad matchup.

At the edge of her arena, Sashimi cast the creature a disinterested glance before moving onward. It was going for the guardian.

“Accursed thing! You dare!”

She only received a laughing shriek in return.

“Aaaaaah!”

Nestra jumped on the nearest platform. The monster fish ambled towards her, horn shining more intensely.

It was about speed now, She wouldn’t lose the guardian to void food buffet after feeding the damn thing. Her mind’s focus narrowed to just victory. Jumping on a higher platform, she prepared her strike.

The horn flashed. Nestra planted her sword in the ground to redirect most of the attack. Whatever was left fizzled uselessly against her skin, barely more than a tickle. She jumped at the monster but leftover mana energized it and it lurched forward with a burst of speed.

Nestra’s trajectory finished with her two feet planted on the next platform, just as she had planned. She pivoted and jumped, using momentum to reach the fish’s back as it retreated.

Her strike carved through its dorsal fin and the flesh beneath. The fish shook from the monstrous power of the blow. It was fast and powerful but it wasn’t resilient and now, it would pay for it. Nestra climbed on its back even as indigo lightning tried to push her off. Thick red blood spurted from the ghastly wound. She grabbed her sword’s blade with her other hand and pushed down. It dug deep through the dying flesh until something cracked and the fish fell from the sky, dead. A flash of energy greatly increased her mana pool.

Wanted to harvest that. No time. No time! Thinking quickly, she dragged the entire corpse after her in her mad rush to what ought to be the last arena. A short corridor led her to a large cave, this time without spectators. Red light and heat radiated from the wall as if the cave was near a volcano. Racks of crude weapons stood at nearby intervals along the wall, under the watchful gaze of a fantastically muscular colossus with its head fully ensconced in a metal cage as dense as plating. It was almost half again as tall as she was and its arms were thicker than her thighs. Of the shark, there was no trace.

The creature let out a gurgling laugh when Nestra appeared. It grabbed two unwieldy hammers in its large hands and charged.

Really fast.

Finally, a challenge!

Nestra dropped her fish, then hissed and pointed her finger to cast a thunder spell. The dot of potential manifested just as the creature placed both his weapons in the way. It landed on a shaft. With a thunderous crack, black lightning closed the distance and annihilated the weapons but the creature dropped them almost immediately. It grabbed two halberds from a nearby pile while Nestra rushed him. Her blade bit into its thigh and struggled to penetrate. The muscle was so damn dense! Again, the creature chuckled in amusement. Nestra ducked under a swing, then moved in to stop another sweep before it could fully wind up. The power behind it still sent her rolling away on the dusty ground.

The creature was on her before she could stop but she sprung up, striking as it tried to pin her. A blade clipped her arm while hers dug a small furrow in his shoulder from where dark red blood slowly seeped. The two opponents separated.

The colossus checked his polearm’s blade and found no blood. Nestra’s skin wasn’t so easy to pierce anymore.

“Two can play that game,” she said.

The colossus snarled and attacked again. Nestra used momentum to get into its guard and then precision to stab up, finding a gap between the bars of the creature’s strange cage helmet. It howled in pain, though it was short, and moved forward to grab her. She used the opening to try to attack its wrist but it failed to penetrate, then she was forced to momentum away. Only experience allowed her to fall on the ground and avoid a thrown halberd. A roll and she dodged the next, dust flowing into the air from the strength of the impact.

That thing was stupidly strong! And fast! Probably near the top of D-class. As Nestra stood up to close the distance again, he grabbed two axes with short hafts. Nestra extended her fingers to see what he would do but an axe whistled past her head and she knew she’d need an opening against such a reactive opponent. Always the trouble with smart foes. She still had her gun but… it was cheating. Her ace. She wanted to win like a raider would.

The two opponents circled each other, moving in for fast strikes before disengaging. Nestra judged the creature to be experienced with all weapons present in the room from the way it was set up, so breaking them would be of no use. Its body was tough as well. She would need to hit the head, clearly a weak point.

She had an idea but the timing would be problematic.

Having taken her measure, the monster charged again. This time, it fought with a flurry of fast axe blows. Nestra was forced on the defensive now that he was using her own tools against her. The Scornful Crescent focused on relentless interruptions but it was now her foe overwhelming her with disruptive attacks. Only her mana tool’s sturdiness and great strength let her survive the onslaught, but that was fine. This was a fight to the death with a physically superior opponent. He even had a decent technique.

She lived for that shit. She wanted to win so badly.

“Yes yes yes yes.”

Finally no politics and no masks, just her and him and the promise of the end. Nestra used momentum to reposition every time the creature was about to strike her, drawing his blood with a thousand cuts. Tiny gashes covered his arms but he didn’t stop. He thought he was cornering her. A powerful strike sent her back and this time, she felt a burning line across her flank where she had failed to completely twist away. Gray blood glistened on the axe, turning red as she watched. The creature growled with excitement. Nestra smiled. That was fine. She’d bled before and she would again and now, she was ready.

She blocked a powerful attack and was pushed back. Her hand ached from the constant abuse even if her blade didn’t dull. Her enemy chuckled as it closed the distance once again, eager to finish it. She let him and closed the jaws of the trap.

The Stalk of the Scornful Crescent didn’t suit her so much because it was about stopping attacks before they came. That was only the first, most basic aspect. She liked it because it was about preventing her foes from doing what they wanted. This time, she didn’t block the attack as she’d done the previous five times. Instead, she took a half step back. The axes whistled through the air and missed her completely. The colossus was off balance.

She stepped in and stabbed up with the help of precision.

Nestra must have hit something important because a lot of blood gushed from the unseen wound under the helmet, and the creature’s pained gasp told her it had been effective. Nestra dodged another attempt to grab her and struck his nether but the blow was stopped by something. Well, it had been worth a try.

He was scared of her now. The part of Nestra that learned the Scornful Crescent felt it seep into her essence, the underlying principles understood. One could fight and win against a wielder of the Crescent, but one could never, ever feel confident. There was always a counter, there was always a deception, always the promise of unexpected pain. Now he knew and he was afraid. The monster threw his axes at her, easily blocked, and went for two swords, slightly longer. That was fine. He charged again and struck her at full range without overextending. She allowed the attack to hit her blade and push her back. That was what she wanted, after all. Her naked heels touched a discarded pile of weapons.

The beast charged again.

Nestra used immovable to stop the next blow. Blades collided in a titanic shock, ringing like bells in the red cavern. Her body screamed in protest but she didn’t relent, instead crouching while her foe recoiled from the unexpected resistance. Her fingers closed on the haft of a massive warhammer. Nestra grabbed the borrowed weapon and swung with all her might.

The hammer smashed against the helmet with a deeply satisfying clang. The colossus crashed against the ground.

Above it, a shadowy maw manifested under two beady eyes. The void shark was going for the kill like the ambush predator it was.

And then a demon bolt hit the dazed colossus’ helm.

It exploded and sent gore and pieces fuming of metal flying through the air. Some of it rained on the void shark’s skin while it shrieked with outrage.

“HAH! HAHAHAHA! BITCH YOU THOUGHT!”

Sashimi shrieked in dismay just as the most powerful rush of strength Nestra had ever felt filled her essence. Her power increased drastically along with her mind speed. She felt so strong now, like she could lift an entire car and bash someone with it. The rush filled her with euphoria and the vindication of having denied Sashimi its moment of stolen glory.

“You’ll have to make some more effort you lazy, good-for-nothing discount handbag. Stealing my kill? After doing fuckall? You little baby!”

The void shark endured her demonic gloating with sullen hisses. Since Nestra was a generous winner, she let the freeloader feed on the fallen guardian as she went over the loot, shaking with excitement. This was the BEST. The altar in front of the newly open exit portal held a dagger she was probably keeping for herself, a dull, seemingly chipped weapon that stank of blood. It felt perfect for her. She picked the five — FIVE — low mana crystals and returned to the real prize: her fish. Sashimi squealed excitedly.

“You are deluded if you think I’m sharing that one with you. Eat the guardian and be grateful, idiot.”

The disgruntled void shark swam around her a couple of times, then it grabbed a piece of leg and disappeared back into the void. Nestra didn’t mind. She was just in a fantastic mood, and no amount of voidquatic sulking could change that. She dumped the fish on the altar and butchered it there in the most blasphemous manner imaginable, thanking past-Nestra for packing extra-large freshness bags. Mana fish filets! Mana fish head soup! Oh, she bet the cheek would taste amazing. Oh, and sashimis, obviously, since the meat was so fresh. Should she make ceviche? She could probably bring a shutome poke on rice to work tomorrow. This was going to be great!

Nestra hummed under her breath when she left the portal and smiled even wider when she saw the benefactor’s message left behind on a nearby chair. There was a letter and a book using the same homemade cheap DIY appearance they had used to write the Scornful Crescent manual. She checked the letter first.

“Little Nezhra!

I can’t believe you didn’t kill the shark! I don’t think any of us ever tried to tame one, wow! Humans will truly try to turn anything into a pet, huh? I didn’t think you would be so affected by their urges! This was very well done and I am so proud.

This portal was meant to push you to your limits but it seems it was still a little easy.”

“Easy?” Nestra sputtered. “Easy? Seriously?”

“So next time I will push you more! You are growing faster than I anticipated. It’s only been two weeks and you are already nearing the peak of D-rank in some regards! Good because you will need it. Concerning your gear, your skin is growing too slowly compared to you. I suppose you could try to feed it more blood but I would recommend buying defensive artifacts for it. Human-made gear will do well.”

“My moneyyyyyy,” Nestra lamented. “Why don’t YOU give me artifacts since you’re so smart, huh?”

Grumbling more, Nestra continued. This was a long letter.

“Finally, I have one last gift for you. It’s a technique that you can use to replace your sword! Most of us don’t use tools in combat so this is the best I could come up with on short notice. Have fun!”

Nestra opened the manual next to her and —

***

A gray demon standing on a field of purple grass, tiny steps carrying him forward. He was shorter and lighter than the female demon Nestra saw in her previous vision, the one that taught her the Scornful Crescent. This one smiled at a large, wolf-like being with spikes covering its back. The beast snarled. It jumped. In slow motion, she watched mana coalesce from the demon’s essence, flowing lazily along his hand and the straight edge of his delicate fingers. It hardened and formed a long blade, longer than the beast itself. First, the blade was a dream, then an idea, then a slab of mana hanging at the tip of claw-like nails, then an edge as sharp as the finest artifact. Then it was death. The dark and gray blade contrasted with the colorful scenery in an ominous manner, like a tear in a tapestry. Nestra gasped when demon mana made solid cut through the beast in a single, casual slice. The air wailed at the violation and reality itself shivered, only spared by the demon’s perfect control.

The image faded.

***

Nestra breathed long and deep. This vision had been intense. Just watching the memory of that blade… She touched her nose and found a single droplet of blood.

“Ok, so SHARP sharp.”

But she got it, and that was what mattered. A flick of her fingers, and a tiny blade extended from her index. It was small and weak and it would barely cut butter but that was fine. She got it. And if she kept practicing, she would eventually get a sword and that one would always be the size she wanted.

But enough of that.

It was time for fish.

***

It was morning again in Threshold and the summer sun pierced through the precinct’s dirty windows. Nestra resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Some things never changed. She was now sitting in an office, alone and facing a gleam from the Special Crime division as well as  her two administrative stooges. The gleam was one of those who’d landed near the crime scene and ignored her completely to talk to Valerian the day before in what was the classical ‘if you’re a dreg you don’t exist until I need something’ approach to teamwork. The problem was that they wanted to talk to her now and this wasn’t a discussion. It was a trial. She surveyed the three idiots and leaned a little more in her seat to show her annoyance.

It was psychological warfare. Seeing someone relaxed or even pretending to be so tended to piss the gleams off and in this instance, she wanted to piss her off. Because Cleaver was outside looking for Nestra and she was stuck here with someone who cared for theatrics. Nestra kept quiet while they fiddled with stuff and just generally glared at her.

The gleam had the gray iris of a metal user like her dad with the short hair many close-quarter raiders favored. She was also fairly powerful, probably a C-grade. Nestra could feel controlled mana wash over her which was the only pleasant thing about this whole encounter.

“Before we begin, I would like to know why you felt free to leave the crime scene?”

Ah so that was what it was.

“What do you mean?”

“Yesterday, you notified us of a crime scene on… landfill 37 of District Fifteen.”

“Yes.”

The gleam waited.

“I still don’t understand your question.”

“Your behavior is doing you no favor. You notified us of this discovery and then you left.”

“Yes.”

Another bout of silence.

“Was there a problem with that?”

“You were not relieved, Officer Palladian.”

Nestra carefully calculated the safest way to annoy the gleam. A part of her was aware she was being childish but the core of her mind wouldn’t budge. It was nasty and it wanted to bite, but smartly, in a way that wouldn’t lead to a significant punishment.

“If you say so,” she replied noncommittally.

It was enough to set the gleam off.

“We are the Special Crime division, the one rampart between rogue users and the general public. Our activities always take priority, am I clear?”

“What activity? I stayed until I was sure the place was secured and then I left to work. At no point did your people interact with me or ask me to stay.”

“Is common sense such a rare commodity these days?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Nestra asked innocently.

The gleam glared harder, mana now pushing on Nestra’s ever-gluttonous mana circuit and disappearing down its bottomless depth. It was rude so Nestra felt free to fight back a little.

“I followed protocol. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“We had questions for you.”

“And you called me and here I am, so maybe ask them?”

“Our time is eminently precious, Officer Palladian. We have better things to do than to run after rogue elements.”

There was a clock on the wall, an old-style analogue affair that also displayed the current temperature and mana concentration for legal purposes. Nestra made a show to check it in order to imply that, for people who saw time as precious, they sure enjoyed wasting hers.

“I see. I’m terribly sorry you feel that way. Now, you had questions?”

“Please note that we will make a request for disciplinary action.”

Nestra pushed back a smile but the gleam saw the minute curl of her lips, and it was enough. Internal Affair was a fortress unto itself and Nestra was currently under their jealous umbrella. Any rat squad agent who was found stealing or accepting bribes suffered the worst possible consequences, such as being sent to Red House with the violent criminals and without protection. In return, the rat squad obstructed any and all outside interference with their own business, including from gleams. They were quite famous for that.

“Noted, request away. So, you had questions?”

The gleam smoldered in her seat. Nestra wondered if she would try to escalate. Her two subordinates were looking at Nestra with a mix of shock and horror. Obviously they weren’t used to a dreg talking back. Nestra was connected so she could afford to do it. Actually, the iron gleam should know her father. It was a rare attunement and he was the strongest user of this type in Threshold. Maybe she had an axe to grind.

“This isn’t over, Palladian. I would like to know how you managed to detect the tomb at a distance and what made you decide to investigate.”

“There was blood mana, though it was a little weird. And I decided to investigate because I’m a cop.”

“How do you know it was unusual? Do you have experience with blood mana?” the gleam asked with a predatory gaze.

Blood mana had a somewhat bad reputation. Case in point.

“I was exposed to many types of mana as part of my training. Blood included.”

“Are you telling me MaxSec gives its employees mana training?”

“No? Surely you haven’t failed to recognize my last name?” Nestra asked. “As a metal-aligned user yourself.”

The gleam grit her teeth and made a note on a datasheet.

“We’ll be checking that. Now elaborate on ‘weird’.”

“Just that,” Nestra said, switching to useful mode.

It was one thing to piss off the gleam but she wouldn’t do anything to hamper the investigation.

“It had a sort of smell, not a physical one but more an induced synesthesia. It was potent enough that I perceived it from a nearby street.”

“And yet your partner didn’t.”

“Officer Shinoda is a baseline.”

“Officer Valerian of House Nephrite did not, however?”

“He landed right on top of the mausoleum if that’s what it is. The mana saturation was very high there.”

“I’m curious how you would be able to recognize mana with such precision.”

They were checking if she wasn’t an accomplice drawing attention to the crime scene, which made sense. The way it was structured hinted at some measure of exhibitionism. The killer or killers would want it to be found. Demon Nestra understood the hunter on a fundamental level without a need for deep thought. That hunter was a cruel one and proud of their work, but they were not willing to display it without someone trying a little, hence why it was camouflaged yet also baited. Someone had to work to enjoy the show, to deserve it. She thought there was also a domination game hidden in the maneuver. The hunter was showing they were smart enough to set up an elaborate display under the Special Crime division’s nose. Or close to it. Nestra was not an apprentice, just one of the few mana-sensitive people who remained close to the ground.

“I can feel mana. It’s in my profile,” Nestra replied.

“It’s not. Your medical information is sealed to us. Care to explain why?”

Mazingwe was apparently looking out for her in his weird protective way, though in this case it was giving her grief. She didn’t really mind people figuring out she had a full circuit and no core. In fact, it would be enough to explain most of the weirdness surrounding her.

“Nope, but I can tell you I have a circuit. You should be able to tell since you’re C-grade,” she replied.

The gleam bristled a bit. She really couldn’t take any backtalk at all, not even the most benign.

“So you claim you could sense a sort of… trail?”

“Yes. It was laid on purpose. There was even a, hmm, direction to it. The person or persons who built it, they wanted it to be found, I think. Although that’s speculation.”

“Hmm. You saw what was inside, yes?”

“A glimpse through the door only.”

“Do you think it was a ritual?”

Nestra shrugged.

“No idea. That’s not my area of expertise.”

“And the eyes?”

“Same. I don’t know enough to formulate an educated opinion.”

“Strange turn of phrase. Well, I believe we have all we need for now.”

Sure you do, Nestra though, sure you do. Wait for it. Wait for iiiiiit.

“One last thing. Hypothetically, if you were in my shoes, what lead would you pursue?”

Nestra blinked. Not the question she’d expected. That was the first time the gleam caught her off guard and when she looked up, the silvery iris remained carefully neutral. Nestra gave it some thought.

What would she do?

“Hm, knowing what I know, I’d look for more sites.”

“You think there are more victims?”

“Probably? Feels like… a show. Very arrogant. It wouldn’t make sense to stop at one, I think? The hunter is very proud.”

“What did you say?”

Shit.

“The, uh, hunter. Like a cat. Showing a trophy. Sorry, just the impression I got.”

The gleam kept staring and Nestra was growing a little uncomfortable.

“The victim was a user.”

“Ah,” Nestra replied.

That made sense. The hunter wanted to show they were competent. Dangerous, even.

“A raider with the Blazing Blades guild. C-rank. A pyromancer.”

Nestra gasped. She couldn’t help it. Someone had murdered a C-rank raider? And gotten away with it? Completely? That was… terrifying. Raiders fought back. Mage raiders demolished entire blocks. And this had all gone under the radar?

Inconceivable.

“Holy shit. Wow. A raider. Wow that’s… bad.”

“An understatement, Officer Palladian. Thank you for your time and see you later.”

***

Before returning to Shinoda’s side, Nestra stopped at the coffee machine for a nice cup of java and a donut. It was a nice one, not too greasy with pseudo-maple syrup glazing. There was one thing she should do that she’d promised to do twice: talk to Mazingwe before he managed to corner her. He picked up after only one ring.

“Nestra Palladian. Good morning. Are you bleeding out in a ditch and require urgent care?”

“And good morning to you too, doctor. Is now a good time?”

“You mean there is no urgency in your request?”

“No requests. I just wanted to inform you of a small change. Hmm. I had synesthesia with a mana signature and my sense of smell. It’s new so I thought I would inform you.”

“It is a good thing I am currently sitting, Miss Palladian, or else I might have fallen from the surprise. Your update is much appreciated. And yes, this is a common feature for nose-reliant quirkies though usually other senses are also enhanced. Can you see mana?”

“No, not yet.”

“It appears that your body finally adapted to a lack of core, though I will admit it was rather sudden. Your case being unique, I am unsure what ‘normal’ constitutes, but I can tell you this latest development is consistent with quirkies profiles. You might develop other abilities including more active ones such as sudden bursts of strength. Please keep in mind that since you only regain mana from the ambient layer, so to speak, the first triggers might leave you completely exhausted. Are you feeling any discomfort?”

“Just hunger.”

“Monitor your weight please, just in case, but so far you seem to be in top shape. It was good listening to you but now I must attend to my next patient. Feel free to send me regular updates in written form and I promise to reply as soon as I can.”

“Thanks doctor. Have a great day.”

“I am pleased that you would trust me, Miss Palladian. Your well-being matters to me.”

“You spoil me.”

“I spoil all of my patients, Miss Palladian. It is my prerogative as an old man. Have a good day and kindly do not get killed.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Nestra hung up.

She was sure she was getting stronger because demon power seeped through her true form into her mask. She could feel it, the way she was mostly cut off but not completely. It wasn’t a quirkie thing but what mattered was that it looked similar enough that she could explain her change through it. Maybe she could study quirkies and imitate them.

She still wished she’d been born with a core. That would have made everything easier, including, apparently, being a conceited bitch.

***

Part 14

Gorge parked his van by the empty dumpsters and walked out gingerly, like an old man in pain. Now that Nestra paid attention, he was already different compared to before the purge. The bald asshole used to have this strong fat build that said he could take a punch and deliver two, but now his loose shirt hung loose from visibly narrower shoulder. His belt was tighter too. He looked softer. Like a civilian. The loose shirt also hid the colostomy bag and possibly a handgun too. His expression felt more guarded, more bitter. Nestra reassessed her opinion. He was down but not out and his unassuming appearance was just a shield. The retired captain expressed relief when Nestra walked out of the shadows. She’d made sure there were no cameras around, and the highway superstructure above them would block the sight of surveillance drones.

It wouldn’t help if someone was actively keeping an eye on her but that was a risk she had to take.

“Palladian, by Riel did you ask me for fun goodies this time. What are you hunting? A war walker? A plane?”

“Heavily modified aug who attacked us during the purge. One of the survivors,” she calmly replied.

His expression fell into one of shock.

“No shit, really?”

“Zapped his ass. I think he has a grudge.”

“You still have the ‘Window Maker’, right?”

“Yep.”

“Keep it because it’s one of the only things that will worry a real borg.”

“Slur.”

“Oh for fuck sake. Fine! An aug. Ok, now I understand why you wanted the goodies. Got your foam here, really easy to use, just point and click. Fully mechanical so EMP won’t stop it. Got the jamming cloud grenades here. Payload is super thick and stops both thermal and radar with heated aluminum-coated glass fiber. Just to be clear, you don’t want to breathe that shit so make sure your mask is up or your lungs will be fucked all the way down, as in, you’ll need replacements, got it?”

“Got it, I just need to make sure my partner has his stuff.”

“Can get him a rebreather in an hour, don’t sweat it. As for the weapon, I got a twelve millimeter modified submachine gun, Touhei design. It’s… really at the upper limit of what a baseline can use in terms of recoil. Ammo is high-ex, as requested. You sure you can handle that? In your, you know…”

He made a short motion to refer to her human form.

“Should be fine, just wish I had the time to practice. Do you have the bills for those?”

“Yep! Everything above ground as requested. Can I just ask why?”

Nestra checked the invoice and filed them in the system. Kim would reimburse some of it and she wouldn’t get into trouble for using military-grade weapons without declaring them first. Right now, it was important to be kind of legal because she expected some amount of scrutiny in the future, one way or another.

“I’ll use those in my human form. I’m working for the rat squad right now. If our geeks find out I’m firing black market guns and this gets reported…”

“Yeah ok makes sense. Anyway, transferring the invoice. It’s all good unless someone digs really deep, like asking how I came across the rights for crushed mana crystal without a gleam on staff.”

“Then it’s your problem anyway,” Nestra replied with a smile.

“Fair enough. What do you got for me?”

“Five mana crystals.”

“Then you owe me seven thousand credits for the lot. Speaking of, your final order, although, I hope you didn’t make a mistake…”

Nestra didn’t reply while Gorge fetched a box containing her final prize. While the other containers had been utilitarian gray and black cases clearly designed to contain technology, this one was made of lacquered red cedar with engravings, granting  it a luxurious appearance - especially given the fact wood came at a premium. It spoke of hand-crafted perfection which was utter bullshit since the boxes were all machine-made. Nestra knew it because she’d visited the guild that made it when she was a kid, back when her dad had a new armor made. Locus Magica, the independent guild of crafters. They produced some of the best human-made artifacts on the planet. They also made a lot of shit too. You can’t teach students and only get masterpieces, after all.

“A failed, discounted gauntlet made to resist fire. Its actual resistance progressively drops after it’s activated instead of remaining stable,” Gorge explained. “It’s still pretty good for a minute or two.”

“That will do nicely.”

“May I ask why?”

“It would be best not to.”

Gorge nodded. Nestra had told him about the Cleaver angle because he was a crafty asshole with twenty years of experience taking down augs and other threats. He had suggestions, and it wasn’t technically illegal to work with him. Anyone looking into Nestra would find dodgy shit that could be explained and would get her slapped on the wrist, but hopefully the raiding aspect would stay hidden. Gorge knowing as little as possible would help. It wasn’t perfect but it was safer.

“You’re digging deep into your reserves, by the way. Some of that cash, it’s from your savings right?” Gorge asked.

“Better that way. It helps with the whole ‘legal and above ground’ aspect of buying the aug-hunting supplies. It’s also an investment.”

“Got a thing though, if you want to make some easy cash. Some old asshole club looking for mumbo jumbo rejuvenating treatment. They’re ready to pay through the nose for virgin gleam blood, if you know what I mean.”

There was no way in hell Nestra was giving out blood to anyone but Mazingwe. She also felt a little miffed by the bald fucker’s happy face. She was sure he didn’t mean virgin as an insult this time but the assumption still pissed her off. There was an opportunity to dispel some of Gorge’s preconceptions. If she was going to work long term with the cunt, might as well educate him a bit.

“I’m not a virgin.”

“What? But I thought…”

“I had a boyfriend at the academy. It was nice enough. I just ended it on a cordial note because it didn’t mean the same to him as it did to me. I experimented. Tried to be happy, you know, the same way as everyone else. It was good but it wasn’t enough. Just not who I was. The way I worked.”

“Huh, that’s weird. So you still fuck? Like sometimes?”

“Not appropriate to ask a colleague about her sex life, Gorge.”

“You should send your complaint to smuggler HR and see what they have to say.”

“Maybe I will. So will you stop calling me a frigid bitch now?”

Gorge’s smile couldn’t be any broader.

“Palladian, I don’t insult people according to who they are. I do it according to what gets a rise out of them, get it?”

“You’re such a cunt.”

“You don’t get it. Need more practice. And hey, I stopped, didn't I?”

“Since when?”

“Since you, you know…”

Saved his boy.

“Right, I’m getting all flustered by positive emotions. Fuck that shit. Good luck tomorrow and let me know if you need more stuff. Cheers.”

“See you later Gorge.”

***

Nestra drove back to District Fifteen with a frown. Sharing something with Gorge, anything really, felt weird but that was where her life was headed right now. The person she’d despised the most had become a stern ally, sharing the belief that retribution would come only with a little bit of help. The other reason was that she was perhaps… more introspective than she should be. She checked her latest message from Officer Kim.

“Lots of chatter on captured devices. Something is about to happen. You are Cleaver’s priority target so watch yourselves.”

That was it. Cleaver was going to go after them, and specifically her. He was a heavily modified fucker with whatever gear he’d managed to find since the purge. Maybe she would be hit here and fail, her mask breaking from catastrophic damage. If that happened, her only option would be to flee and pray there would be no C-rank threats between herself and the kaiju wall, because if there were, she’d die. Her life would change once again just after finally having fun, and that was it, she was having fun. It was tiring and she needed more sleep but… she was good. It was the first time since walking in that test chamber in high school that she felt good. The first time in eight years.

That wasn’t fair at all.

The worse thing was, she didn’t feel she’d turned a corner or improved as a person. Younger Nestra had trained hard, worked harder, done her best to find a way out. She’d consulted with Mazingwe, who had a stellar reputation, over her cravings. She’d dated, partied, learned, tried her best to keep her head above the water and failed repeatedly until failure had become the norm. Fuck, thinking back, she hadn’t even been mad they’d refused to let her stay near portals to manage her cravings. She’d expected it. Any success would have been a surprise. Past Nestra had control over her job and the entire rest of her life had been a garbage truck crashing down a hill while on fire and surrounded by people screaming ‘just try something different you can do it!’. And now she was fine and the only difference was she’d shived a gleam in the head when his back was turned. Talk about a great initiation quest.

If she’d known she’d have done it before. Fuck. The benefactor should have contacted her as a human, or at least given her a hint. Anything!

Bastard had left her hanging for most of her life.

And he’d stolen her Kero nuts.

The universe really owed her one on that.

***

“Yes, I have a mask, Palladian-san, rebreather included as well as an oxygen supply of two minutes. By regulation, I must have it on me at all times. Even air that would not cause most people trouble can be painful to me. I appreciate your thoughtfulness, and I assume you fear Cleaver is on the move?”

Nestra looked out of the cruiser window. Most of the clutter on the streets had been removed, leaving behind damaged walls and cracked roads, their surface smoothed by hastily poured concrete. The debris might have been cleared but they were not yet replaced and now it looked like some giant creature had taken random bites off the landscape. More tellingly, people were missing. No souls gathered under the shade of old bridges to grill their catches over barrel fires, as was a common sight during lunch time. The inhabitants of Fifteen were a hardy lot with good instincts. They could feel something was wrong.

“He is on the move. Everyone is scared.”

“It may be so.”

“It should happen today.”

Shinoda slowed the car down. He started to look to the sides, just in case. Nestra didn’t think they would be attacked here simply because the roads were under surveillance by security drones as the most important arteries of the block. Cleaver didn’t just want to kill them. He wanted the storage drive, and he might not have the time to find it even if everything went well. Or he could accidentally destroy it. No, that wasn’t it. That wasn’t why Nestra was sure. Cleaver was not a person of strategy and reason. She remembered him towering over her during the purge after he’d jumped up the building, the way he looked at her to drink in her fear. He could have attacked as he landed, though he was off balance. He had not. Because he lived for the terror he ignited in others. He was a hunter who enjoyed the moment right before the kill, and Nestra had offended him. He would make it personal. He wanted to watch life fade from her gray eyes. Yes. Yesss.

“Palladian-san?”

“Hm?”

“Ah, it is nothing. You had a… peculiar expression.”

“I’m fine. Once we arrive, let’s load up.”

“You have more experience in this domain so I will defer to you.”

Nestra gave her partner an assessing look. He was staring ahead and to the sides with clenched jaws. Shinoda wasn’t a soldier, he was an investigator. She had to keep this in mind.

“Alright.”

The cruiser turned into the familiar derelict parking at the edge of their hab block. The sun disappeared behind them to be replaced by gloomy darkness. Shinoda deftly drove them across its empty surface, taking a slightly different path than usual. He was taking things seriously.

“I shall park near the inner courtyard entrance.”

“That would be best.”

Nestra deployed her drones. The coast was clear and so they climbed down. The moment her foot touched the asphalt, a monumental explosion made the ground vibrate.

She paused.

It was far away. Intense, but far away. Hushed whispers and cries of panic erupted from the market. She moved to the trunk to load up. The submachine gun looked really nice, at least. It was black and orange, sporting Touhei’s cogged wheel on the side. She loaded it and shoved spare magazines in her breast pockets. Besides her, Shinoda put on heavy body armor and a helmet, closing a mask over his face. It looked futuristic. His voice wasn’t even muffled.

“I am ready, Palladian-san.”

“Weapons check.”

“Oh, yes.”

Nestra closed her helmet as well though it was more of a cowl. It wouldn’t stop a rifle round but it was excellent against sensory attacks. The two were ready by the time Kim’s message arrived on their visors.

“Explosion in a warehouse by the admin center. Gleam patrols recalled. I exempted officer Nephrite. Placing all of you on high alert. Be careful.

• Kim.”

A diversion. Nestra agreed and a moment later, her doubts were confirmed. A second explosion rang in the distance, near the Kaiju wall.

“Palladian-san, if this is a diversion, then people have died to get at us.”

“Don’t think about it. Think about the now. Deep breaths, eyes open.”

“Hai.”

Nestra didn’t jump when she received a call. She’d been expecting it. Flash’s panicked voice rang through her years.

“Angmoh girl, waaaasseh! You know you asked—”

“Where, how many?”

“Four borgs, right at the entrance and moving fast! They came from—”

“Send me the feed. Now.”

Nestra accepted the link request. There was a video, seen above and from an angle. Four heavily augmented people rushing towards the parking entrance street-side.

They’d been waiting for Nestra to arrive. It was happening.

Her only saving grace was that they were limited by the speed of the slowest who barely moved faster than a human. They wore a variety of tactical gear and made no efforts to hide. Cleaver was at the head with a large riot shield and a shoulder-mounted machine gun. Another one hid behind a cloak and seemed more lightly armed though he had a thin rifle. A woman rushed with a variety of guns strapped to her back. As for the last one, all his limbs were modified and Nestra recognized the make: spider type. An infiltration tool that allowed the user to stick to virtually any surface. He had to die first. She couldn’t afford to get flanked.

All of them didn’t just have implants, they also sported the copper-colored coating typical of unpainted shield lattice. Her own EMP grenades wouldn’t really harm them, provided she could even throw that far. Nestra bit back a swear word. Cleaver wasn’t taking any chances. She immediately pressed her ‘oh shit’ button, signaling Valerian to come down. He’d be there very soon.

“Ok. Shinoda, take cover behind that pillar by the cruiser. Shoot when you have a clear shot. Flash, they’re gonna blast us so keep your drones at a distance.”

“I got an electronic warfare suit angmoh girl. Can help!”

“After they trigger it or you’ll get fried for nothing.”

“Is ok, I got many drones.”

“Right, I’m getting closer to get the first shot.”

Nestra activated the camouflage of her suit and moved forward. She would be very hard to detect by whatever sensor those buffons had, at least until she moved. She calculated her best fallback options and settled on an abandoned wreck.

“This is Valerian, I’ll be there in one minute.”

“I’m jamming their recon drones, angmoh girl! They’re not happy!”

Nestra locked her submachine gun against the wall and waited. Cleaver’s crew had not triggered their EMPs yet, probably hoping to find Nestra first before frying every drone in the vicinity, so she still had her feed. Spider aug was to her right and at the edge of their formation, slightly forward. He was sticking to the ceiling which wouldn’t be such a bad idea, normally. People tended not to look up. Only problem was, while the rest was laying low among the wrecks, spider idiot was clearly visible hopping along support beams like a degenerate monkey. He was still a bit far though, and Nestra wasn’t sure of her shot. She lined the visor and waited.

That guy would stop every two seconds to take a look towards the cruiser, its front visible from up close. She switched her gun to burst fire and waited. One. Two. Two and a half…

The spider aug stopped right above a rotting van and looked. Nestra pulled the trigger.

A muffled bang.

The recoil made the gun jolt in her hands but her strength was that of a quirkie now, and this was nothing to her. The spider’s head lurched back but it didn’t let go. Default safety measures, maybe? His loss. She switched to full auto and shot again, this time struggling to keep the bucking gun under control. The roar of the gun felt muted to her ears as she watched the aug die. Tungsten rounds shredded the lightly armored frame in moments. Puffs of blood and oil wafted through the air. A small rush of power told her she’d gained a modicum of speed.

Felt good.

Something rocked her. The Wellington armor overlay informed her she’d been attacked by a flashbang effect. They were trying to disable her. She fired on the woman trying to flank her and got her to hide behind her own pillar.

Less than two seconds later, the rest of the squad opened up on her hiding place, with real guns this time.

Most of the rounds pulverized the wreck by her side. Shrapnel flew through the air in a cloud of mangled pieces, thankfully angled away from her. She kneeled behind her pillar just as the reinforced concrete was torn piece by piece. She picked her first cloud grenade and launched it. At the same time, she lost control of her drones. Her visor went dead and the overlay on her helmet switched to safe mode. She lost her coms. Cleaver had triggered his EMP.

Her grenade detonated a moment later, silent in the terrible din of gunfire. Nestra retreated through the thick, silvery particle cloud. She kept her head low to avoid errant bullets. It looked like Cleaver didn’t want to get her alive that hard, or perhaps they were ok with losing her and getting Shinoda. In any case, the bulk of the bullets strayed to her left while the pillar behind her stopped most of what remained. Some bullets still buzzed over her like angry wasps. They were shooting too high. Untrained hunters, not coordinating well. The smell of the helmet was frustratingly pungent while she longed to smell them, to hear them so she could hunt properly but that fragile human shell couldn’t take it.

Nestra stopped by another pillar by the market entrance. The cruiser was to her right when facing the approaching augs, then Shinoda after that, himself kneeling behind debris. Bullets were hitting everything by now. The augs were confident in their ammo reserves, at least.

Nestra threw another cloud grenade to her left where the market opening was. Bullets soon zipped through it, searching for targets. She threw another one towards her back and let the cloud cover most of her and the cruiser.

She soon saw the first two approach, Cleaver with his riot shield up and the heavily armed woman, now having discarded a couple of empty weapons. They still lay suppressive fire. Nestra waited until she had a good shot. She wanted to take out Cleaver’s mounted gun just because it could shred through her pillar as it had done the wreck. She positioned herself to keep the pillar between the woman and lay down the sights. This would be a close call. She was already lucky they’d failed to spot her despite the reflective cloud and the EMP. Some advanced sights could have spotted her anyway but she guessed Gidung hadn’t given the gangers their best software suites.

Cleaver came in sight as she breathed out. From here, he looked even more monstrous than before. There was little left of his flesh up to his face, where the remaining meat clung to metal plates centered around his auged eyes like angry, irritated slabs. He turned to spray the cloud near the entrance. Nestra could see the ominous black maw of his gun, much smaller than she expected, and the chain of ammo linking it to Cleaver’s back. Her helmet struggled to handle the blast as it was absolutely deafening in a closed space. When Cleaver fired, all other sounds grew muted. Demon Nestra would be able to hear and smell thanks to her resistances, jump and tear him in half because he wouldn’t even be able to see her properly, but that wouldn’t be fun. She aimed for the gun and shot. The explosive rounds hit the barrels but Cleaver’s torso rotated so fast, she didn’t see it.

Nestra saw her death in that maw, and if the gun had been intact, the return fire would have pulped her in an instant. But the gun fizzled and she recovered. She emptied her magazine at Cleaver who advanced patiently towards her with metal feet stomping on the dusty ground. The bullets pinged uselessly against the riot shield, then something hit her pillar hard. The woman had located her and was laying suppressive fire. Dust peppered her armor though she didn’t feel it. She was running out of options.

Abruptly, the shooting stopped. Nestra peered from behind the damaged pillar to see two things. The first was the woman watching in disbelief at the many holes in her armored chest, blood dripping from there in crimson rivulets that stained the powdery fragments. The second was Cleaver aiming a short tube towards their cruiser.

“Oh sh—”

The vehicle exploded in a ball of fire.

Nestra fell to the side as a wave went over her. Red error signals covered her overlay, showing damage. Her chest was constricted but when she caught herself, she realized she was unharmed.

Shinoda lay on the ground. There was some blood. No time to check. Cleaver was walking towards her again. She tossed her last grenade at the aug but she could see its large form walking through the cloud.

“CONNECTION RE ESTABLISHED. EXITING SAFE MODE.”

“Angmoh girl, you back! I’m jamming him but…”

Bullets peppered the shield. The local thugs Shinoda had faced the first day were firing their peashooters at the advancing colossus.

“This is Valerian. I’ve engaged the sniper. Delay Cleaver if you can!”

But the aug was already drawing a weapon from its back, this time some sort of shotgun. The system that helped him shoot those who shot him must have been malfunctioning or the street urchins would be sieves by now. Still, had to draw him away from them. Give Valerian time.

“Get them to stop firing and get Shinoda,” she ordered as she raced out of cover. The thugs hesitated and started looking around like headless chicken instead of taking cover. Idiots. Nestra dropped her submachine gun and drew the Window Maker. Her first three bullets carved deep dents into the shield. Sparks flew, and the shotgun swiveled in her general direction. There was a door in front of her. She crashed through it just as Cleaver carved a crater in the wall to her left. Better not to get hit once.

Behind her, one of the thugs exploded in a shower of gore.

“Fuck.”

That motivated the rest to seek cover. Heavy stomps confirmed Cleaver was going after her. Yes, he had to have her. She knew he could grab Shinoda and get out and he would accomplish an objective, but she also knew he couldn’t. That was twice now she stymied his efforts. He had to have her, and she would use it to drive him away from the others. He was delectably predictable.

Nestra rushed up some stairs. That was an abandoned part of the hab block, too exposed to the outside. Completely walled off and emptied. She knew it because she’d patrolled it once or twice. It was scrupulously kept free of trash to avoid a severe cockroach infestation. Not much light but that wasn’t a problem. She reloaded her window maker and considered her next move. She just needed to delay Cleaver, really. She would use Valerian to deliver the last blow, and she had an idea. After all, augs had their drawbacks.

“Angmoh girl, he’s right behind you! I’ll keep jamming his shit but be careful lah.”

“No shit.”

Nestra angled right and raced, Cleaver stomping behind her. He was really fast in a straight line but she kept turning and turning. He also seemed to always know where she was.

“Scramble his optics?”

“All I can do is mess with the targeting. He has a LOT of shit running at the same time.”

“Palladian, Agent Nephrite has dealt with the sniper. Just hold on for a little longer,” Kim’s voice said.

Cleaver was gaining on her. She planted a foot on a nearby wall and turned into a room, then jumped, crossing it in one go. The heavy stomps rang in the corridor behind her. She aimed the window maker and shot through the wall, once, twice. She was hitting something.

Return fire.

Something clipped her calf. Hard. She fell as a lancing pain tore through it. Blood. She was hit, though the armor had stopped half of her leg from being torn off. Red signals on her display. It hurt like a bitch.

“LACERATIONS DETECTED. FIRST AID IN PROGRESS.”

A cool flood dulled the pain as she rolled to the side just as the wall exploded. Cleaver came through in a shower of crushed plaster, a behemoth of metal behind a damaged riot shield. She’d also hit his flank. The colossus thundered towards her like the judgment of God himself.

It was too much for the old, tired floor. It broke down under him and sent him crashing down below. Nestra’s relief was short-lived. The riot shield embedded itself through the damn ground right behind her, thrown with great strength. She grabbed for the foam just as what remained of the floor cracked and she fell down.

Cleaver was waiting for her at the bottom like a giant trapdoor spider. The dim light turned his heavy armor into an obsidian shell and his eyes shone with a malevolent red light. She aimed the foam dispenser just as his shotgun swiveled towards her. He didn’t shoot because he thought he had her. She didn’t hesitate. Heavy, quickly expanding foam covered the entire right side of his body, including the gun arm. Hydraulics groaned under the strain but that foam wouldn’t peel off so easily. It was designed to disable walkers.

Nestra landed on her good leg and aimed center mass, but Cleaver’s left arm intercepted the shot with preternatural speed. It blew up to shards right to the elbow, yet the punch still connected and the last shot went wide. The Window Maker slipped from her numb fingers. She grabbed her sword with both arms and drew, hitting the damaged arm and releasing an electric charge at the same time.

The damaged arm connected with her belly.

“Ooof!”

Even through the armor and even dulled, the blow hit her like a truck. She was sent crashing against a nearby wall. The entire armor was flashing red by now but her head was protected. Unfortunately, she fell on her wounded leg and collapsed. More blood. The smoking titan that was Cleaver reached for his namesake weapon hanging on his back and realized he no longer had the fingers to grip the hilt.

Nestra grinned at him through the pain. She picked herself up painfully. Bruised ribs, for sure.

“What’s funny?” a cold voice asked her, low and robotic.

The red glare was fixed on her as the wounded titan closed the distance between them, Nestra standing but not moving. She smiled even more broadly when Valerian landed right behind him, when Cleaver’s torso rotated on itself too fast for her to follow and when it didn’t make a difference. With shining green threads lighting his skin, the gleam pushed a large thing that looked like a cattle prod in Cleaver’s wounded flank and pressed a button. Shimmering purple bolts arced from the weapon into the aug who shook and collapsed soon after. Electric mana. That was an artifact, and not a shitty one either.

The titan fell on his side like a hunk of metal. Valerian turned to her.

“Nestra! Are you alright? That was so impressive!”

Power filled Nestra’s demonic self. Elation lifted her spirit above the pain and the stress to a state of felicity. Yes. YES! She’d won the hunt with the conditions she’d set, just the way it was meant to be because she was the fucking best! The best of the best! Riel dammit that felt so good. Victory. Full victory. She felt like laughing maniacally.

“Don’t worry, he won’t move for a while. This voltage should have disabled him for at least an hour.”

Nestra realized she’d been fixedly looking at the fallen aug. Valerian’s words finally registered, turning bliss into amusement.

“Eeeeehm.”

“What?”

She pointed at a steam of steaming pink fluid dripping from the aug’s ears.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’s walking that off.”

“What? Oh! Ooooh… Oh no. Well, this is, but nevermind I need to see to your leg. Quickly.”

Nestra looked at her calf.

Yeah ok she wasn’t walking that one off either. Crushed raspberries on half of it. Thank fuck for the painkillers.

“Hmm. Yes please.”

“Not here, let me carry you out first to Shinoda. I still want to keep an eye on him.”

“One moment please,” Kim’s voice said in the comms. “Mr Flash, once again your support is greatly appreciated but I will ask you to leave this conversation as what follows is classified.”

“Yeah yeah.”

“You will be compensated for your efforts. Good. Now please, approach the dearly departed Mr Cleaver.”

Nestra removed her mask and regretted it a little because it stank like hell in here. She waited while Kim essentially guided Valerian towards a secured compartment lodged in the aug’s upper back. As expected, it contained a drive.

“His psychological profile suggested that he wouldn’t trust subordinates with the drive, and would most likely keep it on himself. Please reconvene to the parking lot. I will be here shortly.”

Valerian actually princess carried Nestra back, and though it implied Nestra hadn’t done the lion’s share of taking Cleaver out, she still appreciated it in a weird, intimate kind of way. It helped that Valerian was friendly, and that she trusted him. She was soon dropped in a prepared stretcher by a freshly landed hovercraft next to Shinoda. The poor detective was fine except for Kim fussing over him with the sort of angry concern some people had for reckless partners. Nestra had seen her mom do the same thing for her dad when he returned wounded from a raid. It distracted her from having to look at her mangled calf, especially at the beginning when Valerian extracted pieces of metal from the meat.

“I apologize for any discomfort,” he said with a winning smile.

“Think nothing of it. I’m so anesthetized down there you could stab me and I’d never know. I am thankful for your help, by the way. Both the killing and the healing.”

“Yes, well, the killing part was unintended,” he said with a wince. “I thought his brain cavity was more isolated.”

“What a shame.”

“Ok, all done, I will now proceed with the healing part of that’s alright with you, Officer Palladian.”

“Look, friend, you’re knuckles deep in my Gastrocnemius muscle so I think at this point you can call me Nestra. Besides, you just did it two minutes ago.”

“I got carried away. And sorry for the attention you’re getting.”

Nestra looked back towards the market and the people she was meant to protect. They didn’t know Cleaver had been here for her, because of the trap she’d laid so they couldn’t be angry. Even the thugs who were crying for the death of one of their own still nodded when they met her eyes. Besides them, a horde of people and one of Flash’s drone surveyed the devastation with fearful eyes. Shredded pillars, pulverized wrecks and fallen debris punctuated an ashy landscape of cracked concrete with steel beams exposed like rotting bones. A long blood trail snaked down like a wound where the woman aug had fallen, torso pierced by Shinoda’s solid aim. The apocalyptic scene painted the tale of a desperate battle even though Nestra had felt in control, and the few glances aimed her way carried respect and even a little bit of admiration.

Kim briefly stopped by Nestra’s stretcher on her way to the techs. She leaned over Nestra with a very serious expression, though her eyes were a little puffy.

“Excellent performance, Officer Palladian. You truly were the right person for the job. And thank you… for protecting him.”

“He did well.”

“I wish I didn’t have to depend on just you two, and you, of course, Officer Nephrite.”

“Happy to help, ma’am.”

“Now let me see what’s on that drive. You can join me when you are done. I assume you are just as curious as I am to see if we found our grail.”

Nestra was, in fact, really curious but she knew better than to hurry Valerian. He was taking his time and she was really happy she couldn’t feel what he was doing. Slowly, the damaged fibers were fixed and reattached until, with a last flourish, skin smoothly closed over the wound, She wouldn’t even have a scar.

“Ok you got me, I’m impressed,” she admitted.

“What about my swordsmanship?”

“I’ll test your cattle prodmanship at a later date.”

“Thank you, Officer Palladian. I shall hold you to it.”

Valerian seemed super pleased for a moment and it gave his nice face and jade iris a sort of happy sheen like this man didn’t live in the real world, the sweet summer baby. Nestra wished for him to never lose that naive hope as she sat, but Valerian wasn’t done with her.

“No no, first we cover the lesion with a protective bandage. You can remove it in two days and not before.”

He applied a rather expensive BaiHua product, something designed to solidify the healed tissue as they tended to break very easily in the first few days after a healing was done.

“You also can’t walk for another half an hour so the new flesh can settle. Let me get you a wheelchair.”

Valerian dutifully pushed Nestra towards a working station at the edge of the hovercraft’s temporary base. Kim was already looking at the screen with a frown. A very long table was scrolling fast, filled with numbers. It followed the same pattern as the lone cached document they’d found on the first drive, but this time, there were a lot more data points.

“Millions of readings. Tens of millions, not just in District Fifteen but closer to central and directly outside of the walls as well. I have no idea what to do with this. Are thaums the main measurement?”

“Can you model it?” Kim asked.

“Yes, if we send it to central they can get an AI to render it in a couple of seconds but… what are you looking for?”

Nestra was starting to get a sneaking suspicion.

“Use a 3D modeling of the city with thaum levels over time as the Z axis. You can use a temperature model as the base.”

“Yes, they are probably the main point of interest. I doubt pressure and altitude matter,” Kim added.

The tech sent the file.

“They’ll need a moment. In the meanwhile, we can check the other files on the drive.”

And they did. Kim was the first to gasp.

“Riel, this is… Cleaver could not have possibly gathered that much.”

“It’s signed by a user named Caine,” the tech helpfully added.

“The most powerful ganger gleam. He should be in a Gidung corpo prison now… Hm.”

The drive hosted a treasure trove of evidence with sources ranging from Gidung internal communications to ganger accounts and even videos of corpo cybernetics being shipped to Fifteen. It was more than damning. It was enough to send someone to the Red House until they died. Finally, Nestra managed to spot the face of the person responsible for her near death and the loss of the last standing MaxSec squad.

He was a man, handsome in a conventional way, nose remade by plastic surgery. A mixed blood, half anglo half Korean probably. His straight hair was combed to the side and his suit always impeccably wrapped around an athletic body. A man of average height. One of the many corpo clones climbing the ladder of upper management. His name was Watkins.

She had no fucking idea who he was.

The internal mail he signed spoke of unique opportunities, of bottom line, of investments. Nestra’s lingering happiness at the victory melted when her gaze swept over the text there looking for anything, any hint that her would-be murderer had acted out of a grand vision to change or destroy the world, for vengeance or something but it all remained so very, very mundane. Meaningless. He had acted out of greed and ambition. She wasn’t even factored in the whole calculation. Hell, the entire purge had been left to the cops. She was just a collateral casualty in a scheme to make unprecedented amounts of cash.

It was almost disappointing, how banal it was, Evil committed in a sanitized and distant manner, almost casually. She’d been personally hurt by actions taken in a boardroom months before the fact by people who were not even aware she would be there to bleed on their fucking project. She wasn’t even a liability in their eyes. She was an externality.

But then her happiness returned. They were going to get fucked because of an externality.

They were going to get fucked, right?

“Riel, that is… hold on, let me send this to my supervisor,” Kim whispered excitedly.

Kim left them behind, reaching to her ear. A second later, she spoke in rapid-fire Korean to someone out of sight. Nestra watched her hold for a while, then the quick speech resumed and lasted for a good fifteen minutes during which she acted increasingly agitated. Valerian and Nestra exchanged a glance, then shrugged. She had no idea if it was good or bad, and eavesdropping with a translation software would be very rude.

By the time Kim came back, her eyes were like saucers.

“Holy Riel. I just talked to the mayor.”

“What?”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Let’s keep it all under wrap for now but let me tell you, the stone is falling down the cliff.”

“Ma’am, you may want to see this,” the tech interrupted.

The simulation was here. Nestra and the others gathered around the screen, watching a rendition of Threshold appear there in cold blue, then red, pulsating bars covered the overlay.

An angry red root spread over Fifteen and beyond to the wall. It was almost alive in the way it ebbed and flowed like a slumbering limb. The root burrowed through the rendition in complete disregard of man-made constructions. It was Nestra’s turn to gasp.

“Palladian? What am I looking at?”

“I know it was formulated as a hypothesis but… to see it here. This a telluric line or… I guess you call it a dragon vein. It’s a mana river.”

“A what?”

“A mana river. Some places on earth have a higher mana concentration than others, and the ambient mana levels are increasing as well, which means that this river will only grow stronger over time, or at least it should. Gidung, well, Watkins was probably hoping for that.”

“And this is valuable how?”

“Whoever controls the space around a river can have their D-class recover faster, have better enchantments run on ambient mana, and I think they can even coalesce mana crystals from thin air with the proper arrays. I know it’s been tried in some of the largest portal worlds.”

Kim blinked and so did Valerian.

“You are surprisingly well-informed, Officer Palladian.”

“I was originally supposed to be my father’s heir. I may look like a muscle brain now because that was my best option but I’m not stupid,” Nestra replied, pride stung by the comment.

Kim actually gave her a short bow of apology, a sign the demon girl was in tremendously good favor.

“My apologies, Officer Palladian. I was condescending.”

“It’s ok. And yeah, this is… I don’t know how to explain it except to say that a mana river is literally a gold mine for the future of Earth. And that branch is already in Threshold. All that’s left to do is…”

“Dig and build,” Kim replied.

“Gidung already brought a lot of construction equipment.”

“They’re planning to harvest the mana.”

“No,” Nestra replied. “They’ve already started.”

***

Part 15

Nestra leaned back in her seat. The Sunflour was half full early in the afternoon, a testament to Seth’s increasingly fancy baking. Nestra had a bite of coconut profiteroles and allowed the cool ice cream to contrast with the hot chocolate sauce through the breached puff pastry. That was not bad at all. And now she could eat pastries without fear of gaining weight since her body was exactly the same as it had been three weeks ago, when she’d awoken. Praise be.

It was weird because her weight should fluctuate according to exercise and diet, even over three weeks. But it didn’t. Her human shell maintained identical and arguably excellent performance but it still took wounds and they still required serious healing. Everything else was normal too. It just… wasn’t changing anymore. Meanwhile, it was too early to tell if her demon self could improve through training and weight lifting or just by killing stuff.

Nestra was procrastinating, filling her head with distractions to avoid facing reality. Her hand reached for her calf, eager to scratch at the itchy stabilizing bandage. That was a shit idea so she refrained. The truth was, she was scared. Scared of the news.

Her hands gripped the datasheet. It was time. The news flash blinked, ready for view, the letters forming ‘raid on Gidung’ flashing like an obnoxious bait. She pressed play.

An aerial shot of the entrance of the Gidung arcology filled the screen. Drone shot, probably. A convoy of black government hover cars rushed towards the entrance. No one blocked their access to the plaza expanding before the doors, but as soon as the agents came out with the white page of a warrant flapping in the wind like a battle standard, the gates of the fortress opened. A short man with a rolled up white shirt and long white hair came out. A large number of gleams followed him in matching business suits, their ties showing the pillar of Gidung in golden filigree. The camera zoomed on the old man, revealing powerful muscles and a light band around his iris. Sun, Gidung’s founder and a light user. One of Threshold’s most powerful gleams and on the cusp of A-rank.

But not quite there yet.

One of the government cars landed closeby, and from there walked a man in a monk robe. The late afternoon sun shone on a bald scalp. It was an extremely unassuming getup, and yet the oddity of the outfit only made him stand out that much more. This was Shinran.

The A-rank gleam walked to Gidung’s founder amicably enough. Nestra understood. One didn’t need to feel aggressive when one wasn’t threatened, and there wasn’t shit Sun could do to stop Shinran. A short conversation followed, then a tech team was allowed in. The video jumped to seven minutes later. The tech team returned with a struggling man in a suit pushed forward by members of Gidung’s own private army. Nestra recognized him when the camera zoomed on an expression of utter shock. Watkins. The Mayor had moved fast.

The mix of terror and disbelief on the corpo’s face was a thing to behold, and that said a lot. Despite leading a massive conspiracy with multiple points of failure and causing the death of thousands of people, he looked like he’d never considered there could be a price for that mistake, an effect to that cause. He’d believed himself untouchable, and now, he couldn’t believe he wasn’t. Probably couldn’t believe his corp would throw him to the wolves either.

The rest of the video was boring. The city goons didn’t get to enter the arcology so Gidung saved face. Gidung was forced to surrender Watkins and some evidence, so the city saved face as well. There would probably be a fine and a pound of flesh, and the corpos would feel the reminder not to go too far but the monoliths of the great institution that was Threshold would be left standing. She noticed what was painfully absent from the newsflash and the many speculations on the lips of excited anchormen and women: no one knew about the mana river. Nestra wasn’t sure what the city intended to do with it beyond kicking Gidung out on their asses. At least, there was that.

The man who’d tried to kill her was on his way to the Red House. The slap on the cheek of the law had been answered in kind. Justice would kind of prevail, sorta, in a way. This was probably the best she could have hoped for, and she’d managed it in a week.

Nestra knew she should feel proud or at least, vindicated. Or maybe hollow in the typical way that came with the release of a long-held tension. She didn’t. She merely felt anxious for tonight. That hunt, the one for Watkins, had not been hers. She’d been at the right place and the right time and merely guided the damning evidence Caine had gathered towards Gidung like one guided a spear in someone else’s chest. Although the conclusion matched her hopes and values, demon Nestra couldn’t relate. She was merely a tool in someone else’s fight. And that was… fine. Her own hunt had concerned Cleaver.

Nestra shrugged and took another bite of profiteroles before the ice cream could melt. Enough of that. She should head back to get ready. Maybe try to catch a bit of shut eye since her family celebration would happen during her usual sleepy time. As she left, she was hailed by Seth who’d just finished buttering up an old couple.

“Hey, hey! Nestra! Been a while.”

“I was busy with work. How are you?”

“Good! Great! People here love my pastries. If I knew it could be so fun and rewarding I would have started a long time ago. Oh, and uh, did Siobhan say anything about me?”

Nestra frowned. Stib had sent her a couple of messages but besides that, nothing.

“Nope. Any reason why she should? What have you done?”

“Haha no pleaaaaase don’t be the bad cop. I have done nothing bad. Just checking.”

“Sorry. Really busy week.”

Seth nodded as if he understood.

“No pressure. Hey, I’m glad you could come. Take care!”

“Thanks, Seth.”

The baker was right. She felt like she’d been under a tremendous amount of pressure, but she was also on sick leave until at least Monday so… finally some time to relax. The benefactor had even canceled tonight’s portal! Well, more like postponed. Things would be alright.

If she repeated that often enough she might even believe it.

***

Gravel crunched under the wheels of her car. It was a nostalgic sound that brought back a lot of memories of going home in her father’s car, those last few seconds crossing the garden before she could move inside. Some of her best and worst memories were associated with that sound. Being held by her father. Returning home after failing to awaken a core.

If she’d still been a true part of the family, she would have turned right here and driven through an alley of tall oaks to the main house’s underground garage… but that time was long gone. She didn’t even have the keys anymore. Instead, she turned left and parked on an empty space by the garden wall between a nondescript sedan and an honest-to-Riel pink Lamborghini. There were quite a few hover cars as well.

Nestra stepped out and checked herself one last time. Makeup? Still there, even the lipstick had survived her attempts to worry her lips. Dress? The same she’d worn when meeting with Aunt Claire: Gleam-made and tasteful without being too flashy. Gift for Ulysses: there, carefully wrapped. A cashmere scarf from a good baseline designer in the gray colors of the family. She simply couldn’t afford a gleam-level gift. A last look at the glass confirmed she was her normal, slightly scarred, obviously bandaged, athletic and cold hostile self. And tired, obviously, since it was currently 7PM and her unofficial sleepy time. She stepped out and joined the short line waiting for admission.

Nestra didn’t recognize either of the two guards providing security at the entrance tonight. They were low gleams, handsome and unctuous with muscular builds so basically high-end bouncers. Maybe hired for the occasion? They only gave most guests a cursory glance before politely letting them in. Not surprising given the amount of mana floating around. This was a raider’s gathering, after all.

It was her turn very soon.

Nestra could tell immediately there was going to be a problem. The guard gleam’s expression turned from pleasant to surprised when he spotted her drab face, then annoyed when he noticed her gleam dress.

“Staff entrance is that way, if that is what you’re looking for. Otherwise, this is a private event.”

“I’m a guest. Clytemnestra Palladian.”

The gleam turned to his colleague with an expression Nestra could only translate as ‘can you believe this shit?’.

“The Palladian is a user family, miss,” he said with a condescending tone. “You know what that means, don’t you?”

Nestra knew at that moment she wouldn’t get in without help but… she should still try.

“Perhaps you should check the guest list. Surely you have pictures of the attendees?”

“Listen, dreg. You can leave now or I can escort you out. And you won’t like that.”

Nestra took a step back, crossed her arms and waited. The gleam gave his partner yet another long-suffering glance.

“Guess you prefer the hard way.”

“I’m just surprised you can’t feel it.”

The gleam took a step forward, provoked, but he stopped when a powerful mana signature washed over the three of them like the first gusts announcing the coming of a hurricane. Aunt Claire landed next to them an instant later with a grace and composure that belied the palpable rage twisting her mouth into a sneer. She wore an elegant cocktail dress that left her scarred shoulders bare. Aunt Claire enjoyed making statements. Right now, that statement was that she was not to be fucked as a B-class raider. Her presence absolutely smothered the guard to the point he was maintained in place not because of courage but because fear had stolen his legs. Nestra felt like standing in front of the oven of her aunt’s wrath.

“I see you haven’t even taken the time to check the guest list.”

“I… I…”

“Get the fuck out of here before I lose my calm for good.”

The guard stumbled away, Aunt Claire turning to Nestra an instant later. Her anger melted to reveal the guilt beneath.

“Absolutely sorry about that, dearie. Damn. And I made a scene. Look, Helena is, hmmm, not doing so well right now. Why don’t you head in and say hi? Errr, do your best. And I’ll come help you if there is anything wrong again. Just don’t mind the others from the Century Guild.”

What Nestra said was: “Alright.”

What she wanted to say was: ‘I fucking told you this was going to be a disaster. I’m not even through the damn door an everything has already gone to shit and you stand here with your baffled face and superpowers and lack of social acumen wondering where the fuck it all went wrong when the reason why it’s already gone off the rail like a radioactive disposal unit on fire is that it was essentially a shit idea, by nature a shit idea, irrevocably a shit idea, I don’t want to be here, I don’t want to see them like this, and I should never have agreed to it.’

Nestra took a deep breath. She was here. She had to see this through or regret it for the rest of her life so she swallowed her anxiety in order to move on. The familiar house had not changed much. Someone had repainted the wood shutters and the small trees by the entrance had grown slightly taller. The hydrangea died at some point and had been replaced by a flower she wasn’t familiar with. The hot evening air carried the sounds of laughter and the clinks of glasses. She walked on the familiar trail by a group of Asian people speaking in Mandarin. The Century Guild. They looked at her curiously until one of dad’s companions came to greet her.

“Damn girl, are you ok? You look rough!”

Vassily was one of her dad’s old teammates. He had always been and still was an absolute peach, a support raider despite his imposing size. Green irises reminded her of Valerian though he was a nature mana specialist. She mechanically told him she was just a little tired and another user came, this time a Japanese woman. Sanae, a pyromancer. Vadanak was next, a water-aligned fencer with a patient and calm personality. A few other old guards greeted her as she made her way in, doing small talk and Nestra appreciated it, and them, she really did. She just didn’t enjoy the pity and concern she could see in their eyes.

“Oh darling, you are just perfect!” a strident voice said.

A gleam with a wide brimmed hat strutted to her before shoving a card in her hand. It read Ms. Teneru.

“I came here to congratulate your brother but oh am I glad I found you. Clytemnestra, was it? Such intensity, like a sharp broken doll! Why, give me a call if you want to model for me. I promise to make it worth your while. Ta-ta darling.”

The weirdo left the scene and all the attention on Nestra’s shoulders. That was the perfect representation of her situation, really. Close friends fussing over her nature, weirdos attracted by the uniqueness, and her left in the middle embarrassed and just as coreless as before. She wanted so much to have a witty thing to say to defuse the awkwardness but her mind drew a blank. She just wasn’t good with crowds.

A part of her told her it was her fault. Her fault for leaving, for being difficult. She could still be part of the gleam world if she wouldn’t be such a prideful bitch. Nestra shrugged the thought off. The gentle soul who could have worked for her family anyway, making the best out of a difficult situation and dispelling tension with a cheerful smile was a nice girl. She just wasn’t Nestra.

Especially not demon Nestra.

While the old guard greeted her like friends, a lot of the junior members of the Palladian clan didn’t know who she was and spared a curious glance at her only to be told who she was and deciding this level of drama wasn’t worth their time. In a way, their whispers and hidden glances felt more comfortable because she was so used to it by now. The main entrance was the heart of the party, filled with experienced C-ranks swapping raiding stories. Those people, she didn’t know, and they were much more disdainful than the others. Her brother immediately spotted her. He detached himself from a group of friends to welcome her with a lopsided grin.

Ulysses looked younger than his thirty years. In fact, he looked younger than her which was a fact of life she’d have to get used to. Now one of the youngest B-ranks in the world, his age and appearance would no longer match that of a baseline. It was still weird seeing him here clad in mana, his power radiating softly around him. He shared the same gray irises as their father, but his also crackled with electricity, his second active affinity. Warm brown hair combed to the side and a handsome face gave him the appearance of a standard action hero. He also had the body to match, wrapped as it was under an elegant charcoal suit. He was also noticeably taller than her now. Yet another change.

He looked good. Among a court of equals, of promising raiders, he still walked like a princeling. This was the upcoming top of the world, the new generation of elite raiders. Some of earth’s very best. They knew it, and they held themselves like it. Ulysses belonged there, and in a way she was happy for him. He looked like he was having a great time here. Generally, the mood was relaxed and friendly despite a few clear rivalries. A comfortable curtain of layered mana covered the room to form a pleasant background while Nestra waited at the edge of the group, clearly a stranger. Progressively, more eyes landed on her until Ulysses perceived the change and when he did, he whispered something in the ear of a young lady in a silver dress before making his way to her.

“Hello, sis. Walk with me?”

It wasn’t a request but Nestra was fine with it. She didn’t want to be a show anymore than she was. She followed his broad back to a side corridor, the one that led to the library. Possibly the most deserted part of the house.

“What a curious occasion you’ve picked to return,” he said, his smile still sticking to his mouth in a way that she found upsetting. It was both a mask and a weapon.

“Aunt Claire suggested it,” she replied.

“Ah,” he said as if it explained everything.

“Got you a present. Congratulations on reaching B-rank.”

He grabbed the present from her hand with three fingers.

“Thank you. I’m sure it’s lovely. I assume you are going to talk to the others as well?”

“Yes.”

“Please do, Helena has been having a bad time. Come to think of it, mother too. They do tend to be overly emotional, unsurprisingly. I am sure they would appreciate your presence.”

“Okay?”

The smile was still there.

“You know, I think I’ve never thanked you for fizzling on us. I digested this over the years but… this is such a special occasion. I kind of want to take it off my chest. I’m sure you don’t mind.”

“...”

“My dear sister, so nice of you to show up on this very special day for me. All of us back together? Dad must be ecstatic since he’s always been so big on the family unity myth. And since it’s so special to me, I wanted to tell you something I’ve always wanted to share. Well, it feels less important now than it used to be since I’ve had some time to digest it but, you know, might as well. After all, who knows when I might see you again?”

“Hmm… okay?”

This was not what she expected.

“I harbored some measure of resentment when daddy dearest picked you up as the heir apparent after my… difficult first years at the academy, but after your fall, he finally gave me some time and, you know, words fail to express how much that meant to me, how special that made me feel. All those expectations? Someone else might have been crushed but I felt so very empowered. Finally, I mattered to the old maniac. I do not mean to belittle your suffering, of course. The golden child failing to grow a core and fizzling on us? Well, that must have been hard on your ego, but you know what they say. One woman’s pain is another man’s opportunity. Anyway, I wanted to share how much of a life-changing event this has all been, today, as I reflect upon my trajectory. Now, I’m sure you were expecting some sort of moving welcome and I wouldn’t want to deny you the opportunity. Before you no doubt see Helena, why don’t you dig up our mother from her lair in the library? She’s been retreating there to sulk and brood and it's a bit unseemly, especially at her age. We’re trying to build a dynasty here, just to inform you. Thanks again for the gift. Enjoy your stay!”

And he left.

“Wow,” Nestra whispered.

At least this had been done in private.

Nestra shook her head to chase off the emotions. This was a waste of her time. She was here for Helena, and possibly her mom. She should see her mom. Nestra knocked on the door and entered.

Her mother was sitting in a corner, near the window in a small recess hidden from the entrance by a thick bookshelf filled with old novels from before the Incursion. Nestra knew she was here in the way her familiar mana leaked, in the way her mother’s breath hitched in her chest. Slowly, Deborah Wilson-Palladian made her way across the dim room.

Nestra’s mom wore a dark blue dress with diamonds which would have made her stand out almost anywhere, especially since it complimented her ice blue irises. They too crackled with energy, but in the cozy library, she felt more like a blonde ice queen escaping from a fairy tale book than the resident. Mom had never looked soft but now she looked distant as well, the cold air between them acting like an impenetrable wall. She smiled gently when she saw her but it was brittle, and it never reached her haunted eyes.

“Nessy. Claire said you would come. I didn’t believe her…”

“Yeah. Not really sure it was a good idea.”

“It’s been a very long time. You should have come sooner. We, well, I shouldn’t talk for the others, but I missed you. Claire told me you were really doing a lot.”

“Yeah. And she told me you were going back to raiding.”

“I am. The call of the raid… Your father and I, we were never the power-hungry raiders at the front of the group. He’s too much of a perfectionist and I am too… controlled, but the need to grow stronger… It doesn’t matter. We are not here to talk about me. You… could return, you know?”

“No, actually, I don’t know. My presence doesn’t seem very missed right now.”

“Nestra. You shut us off. You left and cut contact.”

“I was FUCKING SEVENTEEN!”

Nestra gripped the back of a chair. What the— Why did it feel so raw? Maybe… maybe Ulysses had gotten to her more deeply than she thought.

And then anger tore through her. It overwhelmed her usually mature countenance like a tide and flooded her mind until everything turned red and very vivid. The pain in her mother’s eyes. The garden lamp shining through the half-shuttered window. Messy books. A pulpit. All the images assailed while she looked for — she didn’t know what she was looking for. A threat? A way to deal? The words escaped her through clenched teeth, even if she didn’t really want them to. But the anger had gripped her and there was not enough calm left in her to hold it back.

“I was a teen and hurting a lot. I was and still am a freak accident. What I said was that I needed to find my own path. What I needed was someone to hold me and help me find a purpose, any purpose, that didn’t make me feel like I was measured against impossible standards because I had no core. I know you guys are big on personal responsibility but you’re my fucking parents, no? Or do you think it stops if I reach my majority? I guess that’s what you believed, or maybe you were relieved to see the back of me.”

Her mother kept her gaze on the table by her side.

“Even then I would have loved if you had, you know, come and seen me, or hell, even called once. But you didn’t. Since finding where I live or my number was such a daunting fucking task, I don’t want to break the mystery. Think I’ll check on Helena now. Good luck on raiding.”

“Nessy.”

Nestra stepped away but her mother’s voice held her back.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what to do.”

“You were both mature adults when we were born. You didn’t have us at 15.”

“Was I a bad mother?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t know.”

She slammed the door behind her. Right. Right. Find Helena and then sod right off. She knew where her sis’s room was so she climbed the stairs looking straight ahead and not paying attention to anything.

Helena’s door had a skull on it. And several knife marks. She knocked.

“What?” a voice yelled.

Damn.

It was Helena’s voice. A little lower-pitched and a little raspy but… it was her.

Nestra came in. The room was a mess with clothes everywhere, posters clustering the walls, and supplies strewn about like they’d just been thrown. It smelled of feet and sweat. It was also very dark here. Helena sat on her bed, back arched forward. Matted dark brown hair hung over her face so Nestra couldn’t really see much but the girl’s face appeared like a white sheet when she looked up, and Nestra found herself looking into twin abyssal pits.

The only difference between Helena’s eyes and her true own was that demon Nestra had no sclera. That was it. Otherwise, they were the same. The realization shocked Nestra. The others were their own, but Helena? She was like Nestra. Like true Nestra. Well, maybe more of a teen. Her face was too angular, not full yet, and she had acne. There was also something feral and raw there that Demon Nestra didn’t have, even at the worse of times. She recognized kin in more ways than one, and yet… it didn’t feel like a mask. Helena was still a human.

It shouldn’t be possible.

“Well, look who finally deigned to show up,” the teen spat.

The final barb woke Nestra up from her surprise.

“Aaaaaand I’m out of here.”

“No, no wait. Wait. Sorry. FUCK! Aaaaaah ok ok I take it back. Please come in.”

“Sure,” Nestra said.

The light of the corridor faded. Human Nestra couldn’t see in nearly pitch black but she could certainly smell and now that she was in an enclosed space, it was fucking terrible. Not rotten but more hormonal teen who needs to do laundry. It took five seconds of looking around in darkness before Helena switched her bedside light on her bedside table.

“Sorry, forgot you can’t see in the dark. Didn’t mean to…”

She gestured.

“Yeah, I got it.”

“Shit Nessy, it’s been, what, seven years?”

“Yeah.”

“And you return for Ulysses' big day?”

“I’m here for you. Aunt Claire said — “

“What a nosy bitch. She really can’t let go, huh? Has to rescue all of us lost kittens or it’s the end of her world. Tch.”

“She’s trying, I guess.”

“She should try not to be a public disaster, that would help us as well. Not that either of us have a right to tell her, haha. So. Cop, huh? Actually, I don’t care. You’re here for me. Nice. Now, what the hell can you do?”

“I, uh, I thought I would listen. For a start.”

“Listen. Now. After seven FUCKING YEARS you return to lend me your ear. Fan Fucking Tastic. I’m not doing super well. I also have a therapist. Would you like me to repeat what I said to the therapist? Will that make you feel useful?”

“Helena, I already got shit from Ulysses.”

“Yeah it’s always been about your pain, right? Yours and only yours.”

“I’m sorry that leaving hurt you.”

“Damn right it hurt me. You were… you’re my sis and you left me just like that. Poof. Gone. I really really really kept wondering what I had fucked up as a sister to chase you away.”

“Not about you, pain blinded me.”

“It blinded you. To me?”

“Not saying I was right. I hurt you. Just saying I was your age and felt lost. That made me act stupid. I’m sorry I hurt you. I never meant to hurt you. Please accept that I never meant that. I just, I was choking, here, reminded of my failure. I just couldn’t accept that I would be left behind.”

“Yeah I, ah shit. I don’t know. I’m being a bitch again but just, I just can’t accept you left me, you know? Just, I was missing you and Mom was missing you and Dad stopped talking about family unity and everything and I was wondering what I did wrong, like, all the time.”

Nestra waited. Helena wasn’t done. She stood up and moved excitedly around the room. Nestra realized the teen was a little too thin as well, though it might just be a growth spurt. She lacked the natural grace of other gleams, instead being frantic and almost predatory in the way she moved. It was slightly disturbing and it was no wonder other awakened gleams would pick on it, and possibly her.

“I know my therapist said it wasn’t about me. But that’s not what pisses me off so much. You were always there for me, when I was angry and I didn’t get it and you got me and I knew I could count on you. and then you just… left! And there is all this… anger. I just can’t face it. It just takes over and I am SO FUCKING MAD. Yeah so I’m telling you because the therapist said it helped talking about emotions yeah? You don’t have to comment or anything.”

“Claire said you fought at school.”

“Yeah, got a secondary affinity, force, like dad. It triggers when I lose control and I can’t get the hang of it otherwise. Hurts the other assholes. They FUCKING deserve it,” she said, and her fists contracted painfully.

Nestra could see the muscle tensing under her too pale skin. A single tear rolled down Helena’s cheeks and for a moment, Nestra could see the same child she’d played with under the growing pains and the acne. The grown up Helena looked so lost. Guilt filled Nestra’s chest.

“I, shit. I didn’t know it was that bad,” she admitted.

“I just don’t understand…”

Nestra made the decision here and there. A secret shared with more people was a major risk, and there was no guarantee the benefactor wouldn’t… plug any leak. They’d made clear they valued the secrecy of her existence. It didn’t matter. This was her sister and she was hurting.

Nestra sat by Helena’s side and leaned forward.

“Look. When you’re angry… does it feel like a constant thing eating at you until it explodes then you’re being drowned in a wave of emotions and it’s still you but you can’t help yourself because the wave is just so damn strong?”

“Yes! YES! Yeah, I knew you’d get it. I mean, I kinda explained but with different words. Is fine. That’s it, you got it.”

“Okay. What about raiding? Done any?”

“Not until we’re 18 but the school purchases dokkaebi sometimes. Fucking useless, I can just kill them in one spell and then I’m just too tired.”

“Should use weapons.”

“Yeah I don’t know, I have trouble coating. It just… eats the practice sword.”

Must be using shit materials.

“I’m using an ax. Uncoated. Dad and mom disapprove but fuck them. I love axes,” Helena said, somewhat defensively though she tried to be aloof about it.

“Nothing wrong with axes. They’re also great for massive damage on armored opponents.”

“Yeah!”

“When you kill a dokkaebi, how does it feel?”

“I’m not a psycho!” Helena said, suddenly more guarded.

“No not what I’m asking. I just want to check something.”

Those big dark eyes bore into hers.

“Promise,” Nestra insisted.

“Ok, well, like shit actually. They’re just not that challenging. They never let us at something good enough to really push us. I mean, I’m strong as well. But there are rules. The others, they think I do too much. And they say I’m unstable.”

“You can only have a proper hunt if the enemy has a chance.”

“EXACTLY!”

“Look, what I do is I set myself limits. It’s ok to do it in a controlled environment.”

“What?”

“Give yourself constraints. Only use the ax, no magic. Only strike if you can kill in one blow. That sort of thing.”

This time, Nestra knew Helena wouldn’t just let it go.

“Alright sis, spill the beans. Underground fights?”

“No.”

“Are you murdering random hobos?”

“Fuck no how is that a challenge?”

Helena snorted, dark humor. Heh.

“Look, I’m guilty of doing the same thing I blamed mom for. I left you behind and found excuses for myself, here that I was in pain but… yeah. I abandoned you. I don’t need a long lecture or anything to realize that. It doesn’t matter that I’m not your mom or whatever. You were counting on me as my sis and I left you behind without much of an explanation. I don’t have a real justification but I have an excuse. I was hurting, really hurting, but I’m better now. And I don’t want to abandon you again. I want to help you. I think I can. I can find a way to do it. Can we meet in a couple of days? I gotta check something and I wanna show you something. But not here, too risky.”

“Can you tell me what it is?”

“Really not here. Trust me. Look, give me your number, I’ll contact you. I might be able to help or at least explain, ok? Just hold on until then.”

“So… does that mean you’re coming back?” Helena said with hope filling her voice though she was trying very hard to hide it.

“Wellll not coming back home but I am definitely not leaving you again. Even if what I plan doesn’t work, I’ll be there. Somehow.”

“Okay! Okaayyyyyy it’s going to be great! Ok, secret secret I won’t tell anyone. Shit, this is great. I mean, it’s going to be great!”

“Alright I need to go before Ulysses throws me out on my ass. Keep your visor charged, yeah?”

“I don’t do that anymore. I don’t forget.”

Nestra gave her sister a long hard look.

“Almost never. I won’t this time!”

“Alright. Well, at least that went reasonably well. Sorry, gotta go now. Having so many gleams around is giving me conniptions.”

“Lies. You crave the mana.”

“But not the entitlement. Later alligator.”

Nestra left a groaning Helena and walked head first into the broad chest of Hector Palladian, patriarch of the clan and daddy dearest.

She took a step back and looked up at his imposing face. Dad had always been tall, even before the Incursion. Now he had filled in as well thanks to his gleam physiology to grow into a titan. It used to comfort Nestra. Now, not so much.

“Hello Nestra. It is… good to see you back.”

It felt more like an attempt to be pleasant than a genuine emotion. Dad was always like that. Exactingly precise and demanding, then randomly remembering to be nice and caring. It didn’t even faze her anymore. It was his way of showing care.

“Are you staying?”

“No actually I was about to leave.”

“Ah. I see. I will say so since you returned, but know that our door is always open for you. We kept your old room empty, and I can have the maid ready it for you in an afternoon. You are not repudiated or exiled in any way, remember? In any case, did you talk to Ulysses yet? Your mother? I know she was missing you terribly.”

“Yes.”

“Then let me walk you back.”

Nestra glared. He was in a hurry to see her gone, huh?

“It’s not that I want you away, Nestra. You were never barred from our home. It was your decision to leave to find your own path.”

But they’d let her go and turned their back at a moment she could have used some love, Nestra wanted to say, but she knew it wouldn’t register. Her parents were technically right. It had been her decision. They hadn’t exiled her. A part of her wanted to yell that she was in a crisis and just wanted to hear she was loved and that there would always be a place for her, but Dad would never understand. He was too big on taking responsibility for one’s action to consider that sometimes people needed help. Including his daughter.

“I wish you’d returned at another time. Claire and her hamfisted attempts at social maneuvering… if only she would grow up. Bypassing my authority with the guards as well, in full view of the Century Guild. I do not blame you, of course. You are here for Helena, but between your return and her outburst at the gates, Ulysses must be rather upset. This was supposed to be his big day and taking the attention away from him in any way hurts his image, you understand.”

“Right. He made it quite clear too. Poor Ulysses.”

“It’s his day, Nestra. He worked very hard for this moment. Skill does not suffice to reach that level. Hard work and a little bit of luck were required as well. Several prominent teams have showed up, perhaps thinking to recruit him for the raiding season.”

“Sure, I just didn’t imagine that showing up would be such a disaster for him. My bad I guess,” Nestra replied, this time making the sarcasm heavy.

Her father gave her a measuring look. Nestra shrugged.

“You have to understand him. You have made finding a long-term partner delicate for him. I believe he was recently refused because her family was concerned that their children would be born without a core.”

Nestra scoffed.

“Oh shit, should I apologize for existing again? Damn, now I’m potentially contagious as well? You really should have culled me earlier. Sorry for polluting your gene pool I guess.”

“It’s not like that, Nestra. Please don’t make it difficult. It’s not our fault either.”

“I think you can stop talking now.”

Father sighed but he didn’t complain. He merely walked by her side then stood at the corner of the parking spot when she stepped into her car, then when she drove away. He was still there when she turned the corner into the posh neighborhood’s street.

Once she was out of sight, Nestra slammed her head against the driving wheel.

“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.”

Nestra’s visor beeped as she recovered and let the car AI take over driving. It was an unusual sound. A sound she still recognized nonetheless. She had to double check to make sure it was what she thought it was, because her brain couldn’t accept she would be getting splattered by life twice in such a short interval, but here was the message and it was exactly what she expected.

“KAIJU ALERT. INCOMING ATTACK, ETA 3 HOURS. PLEASE CALMLY REPORT TO YOUR ASSIGNED STATION.”

Outside and in the city, sirens rose to call the citizens to their shelters.

Part 16

Nestra let the car drive her back towards her house because District Fifteen was in the same direction anyway.

Was this a coincidence? It was probably a coincidence. Kaiju attacks happened. The last had been two years ago so it was completely normal, and Shinran would just fly out with the elites and turn it to paste, right? Her heart beat frantically in her chest. She was exhausted, emotionally, mentally, and physically. What now? What now?

Right, right. She was a cop. When she was part of MaxSec, her duties had been to control a crossroad near a shelter in case something got through. No idea what the rat squad was supposed to do. Maybe get into a shelter and stay there?

Her car slowed down when she reached the highway. There were military convoys on the road, APCs and others. A drone flew overhead and scanned her vehicle, which was when she remembered using the highway was forbidden to civvies during emergencies. Fortunately, it merely flew away.

Right.

Nestra searched her orders for emergency clauses and found nothing. In despair, she left a message with Kim even though she ought to be extra busy.

There was no reply.

What to do, what to do? Nestra placed her head against the glass and watched the wall approach as they got closer. Over a hundred meters tall, the Kaiju wall was a constant presence in Threshold, the one that kept not just the larger monsters at bay but also silent predators and roving bands of devouring beasts. It was a leftover from the old days when the city was only an enclave on a new, mysterious new landmass, but since then it had been constantly improved. It was a symbol. It was merely delaying the inevitable. It was the breath the baseline needed for their children to prosper. It was humanity’s defiance, the human choice not to give up the technology it had been forced to develop. It was a prison. It was…

BEEP

Nestra snorted herself awake. She was in her garage. At home.

“Damn, did I really fall asleep so easily?”

BEEP BEEP.

A call on her visor. Kim.

“Yes?”

“Palladian. Thank Riel. You have to get to Fifteen as soon as you can. Please.”

Please?

“Hmm sure, what’s going on?”

“It’s Shinoda. He left his hospital room.”

“WHAT?”

“The old fool. He is, well, he should be fine but concussions are always a tricky thing. GPS signals indicate he is already in Fifteen at your assigned hab block, probably organizing shelter activities. Palladian, I am telling you this in confidence. The Kaiju is accelerating.”

“I’m on my way but… let me guess, it’s accelerating towards Fifteen?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Today at 5:30 PM and as part of an agreement with the city to avoid in-depth criminal investigations into Gidung’s activities, Gidung personnel activated the ‘Dragon Vein Reclamation Array’ under our supervision.”

“Let me guess, it makes mana stones out of thin air?”

“No, that would be inefficient. Instead, mana is directly… extracted from the vein to be used in circuits. and various constructs. This is not important, Palladian. Listen to me. Seismic activities were detected in the Pacific Ocean only two minutes later.”

“Ok so it was not a coincidence,” Nestra whispered to herself with amazement tinged with annoyance.

“No. Shortly after, GSN detected a disturbance off the continent’s east coast. I am telling you this so you understand. The Kaiju is heading straight towards you, not any other section of the wall.”

Nestra’s car sped up the ramp to the highway. It would be fine. She only had to help with pushing people into the shelters. Easy.

“it’s ok, it won’t breach.”

“Palladian, it has a horde with it… and Shinran is raiding.”

Oh.

Oooooooh.

Oh, ok, that was a shit timing.

“Worse, the city will not concentrate troops near you because it would be an admission that they knew it was going there. And an admission of guilt. As far as the administration is concerned, there is no link between the activation of the device and the presence of a Kaiju. Hong Wang’s guild will guard the wall but there is a distinct and real risk of breach, however minor.”

‘’What the hell…”

It took a moment for her to realize that she’d sworn in front of a rather uptight superior but Kim didn't care.

“I’m trying to get to the mayor. Kim sijang-nim must have ways to help.”

“Yeah, like actually telling everyone to gather on Fifteen’s wall?”

“... I am sorry, miss Palladian. I am working with what I have. There is no real proof that the Kaiju reacted to the activation unless the effect can be replicated. The city will not hesitate to sacrifice the district if it means unrestricted access to dragon vein research. This might be the world's first occurrence. A natural mana powerplant? The safety of the people of Fifteen does not even begin to compare,” the civil servant said.

She didn’t sound too pleased. Nestra frowned, but she was in the same situation. What could she even do? At least, the research would hypothetically benefit the city rather than a single corp. Nestra took the ramp off towards Fifteen’s main entrance, the district being partially blocked off which wouldn’t help. The streets were empty at this time which was for the best.

“Ok, nevermind, I’m almost there. I’ll group up with Shinoda—”

The connection cut abruptly.

“What?”

[IMPACT IMMINENT]

Nestra had less than a second to react to the screeching red signal on her windshield. Only her enhanced reflexes allowed her to turn the wheel, the car drifting with the scream of tires into the curb. Wheels bounce.

Something crashed on the right side of her engine. Something big, white. Drone.

Impact.

Weightlessness.

Nestra’s seatbelt bit into her shoulder. Her head bounced against the airbag, her mind reeling from the surprise. A drone? Suicide drone? No, it would have exploded. What the FUCK was going on?

Her car slammed against something then came to a stop. Nestra’s world was white expanded airbag. She hit the emergency release on her belt. The door popped off and she stumbled to her feet.

Her car was totaled. The drone’s mangled wreck waited a few meters away, white paint shredded but she recognized the model. Gidung.

Those vengeful motherfuckers.

“You’re so dead,” she grumbled.

“Are we, now?” a voice said, mocking.

Nestra recognized it.

Her mind clicked. Now, she knew exactly what was going on.

Could not stay here. Had to find a secluded place.

She ran. There was an alley between two low buildings, away from the wreck and the voice. She raced across it, past dumpsters and wrappings, deeper into a maze of back offices and small warehouses. There were footsteps behind her. A burning fury smoldered in her heart, now that her focus on the Kaiju was gone. Her brother’s condescending dismissal, her mother’s lost pain, her sister’s unguided fury, her father’s unwitting callousness, her own guilt and her resentment, all of it bubbled like a cauldron and it was done. It was over.

She didn’t even want to resist demon Nestra’s instincts anymore.

For tonight, it was finished. She gave up.

Nestra moved into an empty warehouse with its gate open. Discarded wrappings and open cans showed this might have been a squat at some point. It was out of the way. The footsteps showed she’d been herded there or close to there anyway.

Nestra turned towards the entrance where a man approached, casually, hands in his pockets.

“Well well well, fancy seeing you there, Palladian,” the police loser gleam said.

It was the leader of the group and the rest of the trio soon came, their smugs displaying a feral satisfaction. Nestra’s fury went cold. It lodged herself into her chest like a dead star. Just wait for it, the last of her control whispered. Just got to make sure. Wait. And then we can go and not stop.

“Yes,” she replied with gritted teeth, “very fancy. You must be out of your mind.”

The Korean guy twirled his ridiculous mustache, then he shrugged. The backlight reflected strangely in his messy hair. The lanky anglo snickered as he leaned against the entrance. As for the heavyset guy, he was keeping an eye out for… something.

“Nah, we’re just here to get paid and have some fun. You must have pissed off someone really important for us to get contacted but… seeing as you’re a complete bitch, it doesn’t really surprise me.”

“There's a reason why I can do that. Guess you don’t mind getting pulped then.”

“Oooooh the PALLADIAN family,” the leader said.

He knocked on his temple as if just figuring it out. The other two chuckled.

“How could I have forgotten. Unfortunately for you, I guess they’ll just have to be sad and bury you under the petunias along with the other birth defects.”

Nestra’s fury flared. They couldn’t know about her mother’s health, it was merely a cheap jab, but it had landed and it was all Nestra could do to keep herself calm.

“Ooooh, angry, are we? That's my favorite part.”

The leader took a few steps forward, flanked by the lanky asshole. Heavyset was staying by the door as a lookout.

“One more person who thinks she’s better than us, one more to break from her pedestal. You thought you had the police at your back? The weight of your piddling dynasty? Here, there is no one. Just you, me, and that little jammer our friends from Gidung got us.”

Heavyset was carrying a case. Probably it.

“So you’re really that confident no one will interrupt us?” she asked, voice flat.

“Absolutely… Certain…” Mustache said with a triumphant sneer.

“Oh good. GOOD.”

Nestra breathed out and smiled.

The mask cracked open.

“Greaaaaat. ETZIA NEZHRA.”

“What the FUCK!”

Free.

Gloriously free, and gloriously mad with a black anger that pumped liquid magma through her veins. Energy sizzling along her skin. So liberating. Pounce. Grab the anglo’s face. Dislocate the jaw. Crush the eyes like ripe cherries. It screams. It struggles. She breaks the body like a cheap toy and its terror is so sweet. It strikes her ribs with a mana fist but it is weak, weak and pathetic and so not a challenge but it does not matter.

This time, it was personal.

She shivered when energy filled her, which the others saw as an opening. Mustache attacked her with two daggers and a scream. She smiled. She deflected one blade with the flat of her hand, without moving anything else, the infused surface failing to pierce her skin. Slow. Meek. Sloppy. She got into its guard and stopped at the edge of its face with her needle teeth bared so it knew, it knew in its heart that it could have been already dead. Ten little fingers on the arm. Ten little void blades flaring from her nails. She pulled back and raked.

Ten grooves seeping blood. A lot of blood. It screamed and it dropped the weapons. She used momentum to duck under a quarterstaff attack from Heavyset.

“What?”

Charge from behind Mustache, from the blind spot. Push them together. They smacked against the wall like puppets. They looked up in terror. She wanted them to be more afraid, to fear her more than they feared death. She wanted them to pay for what they chose to be, when they had cores and a future and she didn’t, when they decided to take on the weaker ones as weaklings themselves. Something shifted in her throat as new instincts awoke, and her voice sounded strange to even her ears. It was deeper, masculine. She leaned forward so they could look at the abyss in her eyes and find no glimmer of hope there.

“Oh, feisty,” she said in the voice of the dead anglo.

“What? Ayden?— “

“Real shame you can’t play nice since, you know, we’re supposed to be your overwatch.”

Those were the first words anglo had said to her a long time ago, in the garage underneath the precinct. Back then, they’d been the bullies. Now, they were dead.

“No. No! Nonononononono!”

Momentum. She slammed Mustache’s head against the concrete, again, and again. Even shitty gleams were unusually resilient.

“We just wanted to get acquainted,” anglo’s voice mocks.

Heavyset screamed and ran. Nestra whaled on the dying mustache for a second. So good. She manifested a knife-sized void blade above her fist and rammed it into its skull to finish it off. Another burst of delicious power filled her veins. Humans. Truly, they always remained fresh and interesting… and Heavyset’s fleeing footsteps were just so tempting. She ran after it. It was slow. It was going through an alley back towards the main street. Fleeing. Futile but fun. She walked through a warehouse wall to cut it off.

She found it really fun to slide, grinning face first through the wall in front of it. It babbled something incoherent when it fell backward with a hand raised in front of it like a pathetic barrier. A warrior, defeated with just fear, a fear of her. So delicious.

“This place was hard to find, Ajumma,” she mocked in Mustache’s voice.

“Nooooooo PLEASE.”

“Nooooooo PLEASE hah hah hah hah.”

Grab its head. Pull it back. Expose the dark neck covered in stubble. Time to find out.

Nestra bit down. Juicy blood spayed her mouth and chin. Her teeth sheared through sinew, muscles, bones. So much blood.

She pulled back and let the choking corpse fall. The pool of ichor lapped at her feet but she didn’t move.

It tasted…

Really really meh. Basically unseasoned tartare but worse. Unremarkable. She spat out the gore with a sigh of relief.

“You know,” she told it in her human voice, “I was really worried I might be anthropophagic, buuuuuut it looks like I still got to search more for what those teeth are meant to bite after all.”

Heavyset died. More power filled her.

Nestra looked up. No drones directly overhead, luckily. It wouldn’t last.

She looked at the very dead gleam and the large blood spill under him, then back towards the fuming wreck of her personal and easily identifiable car. In the distance, lockdown alarms for District Fifteen heralded the raising of the containment wall.

“Fuck.”

***

What to do?

The lockdown alarm meant the wall was rising. The city was going to quarantine Fifteen for the second time this month. She had to decide if she wanted to go in now or risk… no, actually she could probably go through it without problems but that wasn’t the issue. Right now, she had two options she could see.

Option 1: stay here and destroy the evidence if possible.

Option 2: stay here and change back to human and then clam up when asked uncomfortable questions.

Option 3: get in to try and help Shinoda.

Option 1 would be almost impossible, unless… She focused and bit her finger, letting some blood out. She waved it in the air while making sure not to let any of it spill, then she tried to see if she could instinctively shift into a portal world. She couldn’t. There weren’t any around.

“Sashimi? Sashimi!”

No reply. She couldn’t even feel a presence. Bah, it was a long shot anyway. Nestra sucked on her blood to make sure none would spill while she considered her options.

The bodies would be found sooner or later. She had no way of disposing of them in such a manner that she could outsmart the local law. Besides, those were dead gleams. They might have health monitors. Maybe their deaths would be reported by their handler. The crime scene would also be irremediably linked to her between her car GPS, the accident report, the onboard camera… She was completely toast.

Option 2: sit down and wait. That felt stupid. Literally the worst possible outcome. Was there a way she could at least get plausible deniability?

Actually, there was.

Option 3 was looking to become pretty interesting. She ran towards District Fifteen then found another empty warehouse, shifting through the wall and putting her mask back on. Immediately, the night sky turned dark and unknown. Shadows crept everywhere and a world of smells and feelings disappeared from her perception as the limits of her human shape constrained her. It was necessary, she told herself. Just a return to normal. The idiot gleams had a scrambler, and there were probably no drones overhead. That meant that there were no recordings of her fleeing the car, running through the streets or fighting. She could claim she just ran towards the safety of the wall and… what would people do? There was nothing concrete linking her to the crime because she had left no DNA and the killings had been done using a different tool than usual. Run and deny and it would be fine, especially because it just made sense to leave a disabled vehicle after what could be perceived as an assassination attempt. And it was reasonable for her to be trying to complete her mission.

Nestra ran in human form, regretting her lack of weapons since she’d left them in the trunk of her car. And armor since she was still in her nice dress. She would absolutely have to fight in her true form if it came to that… In less than five minutes, she finally found the gate.

The district inner wall wasn’t as sturdy as the outer one but it was still formidable, expected to resist all but the most sustained effort from C-class beasts. It raised level by level so she just waited for the next one to be stable before engaging the emergency lock on a section. Fortunately, her police ID gave her clearance. An instant later, she received a call on her visor. It was Kim.

She’d forgotten about the visor. It had fully rebooted now.

“Palladian, what the hell was that?”

“I think Gidung just tried to kill me. A drone crashed into my car and my coms were jammed.”

“... Palladian, please repeat?”

“A Gidung drone totalled my fucking car. And my visor was dead.”

“Aish… Unbelievable. Where are you now? Are you safe?”

“I used a safety override on the district gate. I’m in Fifteen now.”

“Perhaps it was foolish to send you now. I will immediately talk to the commissioner, in the meanwhile, get to cover. FIfteen’s assault is imminent. Gidung’s Guild already engaged the kaiju near the wall but it’s not stopping and there is a horde with it.”

“I’ll hurry.”

What was a five minutes drive by car turned into a long slog as Nestra was forced to stick to cover. She crossed several empty hab blocks on the way, their similarities with the one she managed eerie and disturbing. It was like watching a parallel universe version of a place she knew down to the electric appliance stall being on the wrong side of the inner courtyard. Fortunately, all of those places were empty with evacuation almost completed. She only came across a couple of drugged out toughs who didn’t even try to stop her because they were convinced she wasn’t real. The darkness helped with the rest. It took her half an hour to reach her familiar hab block and by then, she was a, breathy, sweaty mess with aching feet. Sounds of battle could be heard in the distance.

Nestra stopped by the entrance. A red halo emerged from the top of the Kaiju wall near the center of the district, close, very close. Distant spells and weapons striated the night sky even as the lights of the district switched off one by one. She called Shinoda as she reached the parking lot where the remains of their patrol car still lingered.

“Palladian-san? Are you safe?”

“Just got into the hab block, making my way to the shelter. Status?”

There were yells in the background for him, though they were not hostile. Someone was giving orders.

“The evacuation is nearly complete. Our shelter should be nearly emptied of furniture. Flash assured me all the systems were functional.”

“Furniture?”

“Yes. The shelter was partly used as a storage space. Miss Yadar took charge for the end of the process.”

Nestra remembered the old lady with a turban, the hab block’s richest denizen. Most likely the best choice.

“I have led the Red Wings to a nearby shelter after they called for help.”

Red wings, red wings… The local youth gang. The same who’d threatened her on the first day.

“Wait? You left?”

“Those people need help Palladian-san. Their shelter is not functional while ours can welcome many more people as it is intact. We will make our way back as soon as the convoy is ready.”

“Kim told me the Kaiju is accelerating.”

“I am following the battle as it rages. You are correct, the situation is concerning. Forgive me, Palladian-san. The people always take priority.”

“Okay. I’ll hold the fort.”

“See you soon.”

He was following the battle? Nestra remembered the last attack and the news that followed. She’d been busy during the event but after, there were illegal recordings of the attack. Surely…

She turned on Wired, the world’s most popular streaming platform and sure enough, some asshole had rigged a long range recon drone with enough relays and high quality cameras to turn the Kaiju fight into a show. She half-listened to an excited commentary as she raced towards the shelter. There, the locals had turned piles of metal furniture into an improvised barricade system, a pretty good one. She had to crawl under an old bookcase to reach the entrance tunnel where she was stopped by the congee stand seller waving an old shotgun.

“Glad you could show up,” the woman told her.

“Don’t wave that thing in my face. Tell me the other side isn’t blocked?”

“Of course not, that’s our evac tunnel. If the beasts breach it, well, we’re supposed to move into the shelter anyway.”

“You should have already done that,” Nestra grumbled though her heart wasn’t into it.

A group of armed men waited in the corridor, watching the stream on a hastily mounted large screen with Flash setting up a sound system as well. The drone must have been high up in the air to capture the battle so vividly.

A titan strode through the forest around Threshold, a monster as tall as a skyscraper. It was vaguely humanoid, already a rarity, and that made its aspect even more horrifying. The creature walked on two thick stone pillars, its skin was green like an old emerald and its hair was kelp, thick and falling to its waist in tangled threads. Vestigial arms hung by its side like parodies of human limbs, but it was the face that really brought home this was a monster. A single yellow eye occupied most of its forehead, then there was only flat space where the nose ought to be. A mouth, or rather, a cavity began below that. Like a screaming mouth, it started with a circle but the jaw simply… wasn’t there. The cavity expanded wider and wider down the throat, then most of the chest right down to the plexus. It was just a massive, shadow maw bordered by tentacles that writhed and grasped for victims. The speed at which it moved wasn’t that impressive until Nestra remembered this thing was so massive it was practically moving as fast as a car.

The titan was fighting a flying hive of gleams while others attacked its flank, or fought off the squirming horde of lesser monsters following it. Nestra immediately realized that the number of gleams was far too low compared to what it should be. For one moment, she feared it might be due to massive casualties but zoomed footage showed flying support teams bearing the Gidung colors and doubt crept into her mind. That doubt was confirmed when she noticed the B-class gleam leading the charge. It was Hong Wang, Gidung’s rising star.

To be fair, they seemed to be doing well. The titan was dangerous, and as she watched, the camera zoomed on a struggling gleam caught by the creature’s, well, hair. The fighter hacked at the kelp-like appendage with a sword in vain, and even his allies failed to rescue him before he was shoved in the massive maw, and yet the titan was also wounded. Cracks filled the deep green shell, revealing pulsating pink flesh underneath. Long bubbling wounds exuded pus and boiled blood that dripped down its massive legs in foaming cascades. Countless strikes chipped what remained of its defenses but still it persisted. The walls were in view.

Nestra wondered why nobody attacked the massive eye, which would obviously be a weak point until a few errant spells missed the mouth. As soon as the projectiles neared the eyes, they appeared drawn by it, the fabric fizzling and devoured like a black hole stripping a star bare. It was a strange ability but Nestra didn’t have the time to think about it too much. The battle was gaming in intensity as more flying gleams joined the fray and the assault reached a paroxysm. Squads flew, tossing weapons and spells at the colossus in a dazzling display of sound and color. Many of the colossus’ tendrils were now either burnt or severed by determined assault. Like packs of piranhas, the gleams nibbled at their opponent until flesh cracked, skin shriveled and healthy green turned to dying brown. The beast moaned. It was a low sound as deep as an oceanic trench. Nestra noticed the dust shaking on a nearby chair and the people watching the monitor stopped talking. They were hearing it for real, not via speakers.

“It’s… they’re gonna stop it,” someone said. “Right?”

Nestra was pretty sure they were going to stop it. Her demon instinct told her Hong Wang was holding back, but for what?

And then, the drone rotated to show the wall. That was it. The titan would breach it in a matter of seconds.

Hong Wang smiled then as the cameras zoomed on his handsome face. The red in his eyes flashed mightily. He flew up until he was leveled with the titan’s head and spoke, though the jury-rigged drone couldn’t pick up what he was saying. Nestra stopped herself from cursing out loud. This was another piece of PR for Gidung’s flagging image. The B-class gleam had sacrificed safety and a few lives for a perfect shot.

He spread his arms wide and closed his eyes. A massive circle of flames appeared behind him, then it gained in intensity as symbols and shimmering patterns erupted, turning the living canvas into a complex work of arcane knowledge. It grew. Nestra blinked at the might and complexity of the spell, she who struggled to cast a single bolt. Hong Wang stood there and he made it look easy, easy to wield the ancient power of fire. The flames turned white and wings expanded from the high gleam’s back until they radiated like a small sun. A low rumble silenced even the constant jabbering of the excited streamer commenting on the battle. Hong Wang was turning into a phoenix. Hong Wang disappeared inside of the spell until there was nothing to be seen but this single fire bird hovering before the faltering titan, wings spread and so hot the distant grass under it spontaneously combusted. The other gleams pulled off. The horde stopped at a distance. Only the maddened titan kept going, smoking and wounded, towards the altered dragon veil.

Hong Wang cast the spell.

The phoenix took off. It flew up with a mighty screech and then it dove head first into the monster’s maw, burning it to a crisp in an instant. Blackened flesh peeled off, bones cracked, skin combusted. A small sun had lodged itself into the titan’s throat and it was killing it. An arm fell off, its connective tissue charred to a crisp. It stopped.

It was dead standing. In front of him, Hong Wang flew triumphant as a champion of mankind, his immaculate hair flowing in the inferno’s updraft. The light of the fire illuminated his heroic shape and on the stream, the crowd went wild, but all Nestra could see was the eye, the still open eye now zeroed on Hong Wang’s shape. She approached the tv to see it displayed on a side screen while most of the attention was dedicated to the victor. The eye drank the energy killing it in silence. It glowed in the already alit form of its failing body.

“Fuck,” Nestra said.

She wasn’t alone. A few gleams were already flying around and Hong Wang himself frowned, annoyed that his moment of glory could be ruined.

Suddenly, the screen went red.

A… laser-like beam linked the titan’s eye, Hong Wang, and the wall beyond. The sound system sent back an error message but Nestra didn’t need it. She heard with her own ears the cataclysmic call of the attack. The tunnel shook and dust fell on her hair. Shocked silence filled the spectators. Even the streamer finally shut up.

When the drone’s sensors recovered from the saturation, it shook from a massive shockwave but the cameras were good enough to pick up the important details.

Hong Wang was gone. There was nothing left of him.

A large gash now cut through the kaiju wall from top to bottom. Slowly, an entire pane collapsed inward. The ground shook again.

The colossus stumbled forward after having delivered its last attack. The dead one managed one last step, then its mountainous corps collapsed on the wall, finishing what the laser had started. The head flattened the last remaining intact part, near the base, then it finally stopped moving, and in its wake, the horde came. Some engaged the gleams barring their way, some died under the fire of automatic defenses. The rest of them flowed through the opening in a tide of flesh, claws, and fangs.

“Well, so much for that,” Nestra grumbled. “You, get in and seal the bulkhead.”

“What?” one of the guards asked. “Why?”

“Yeah, chill angmoh girl. We’re still waiting for others!”

“You seal it because the wall is breached and if a single C-class beast slithers through that joke of a barricade, you’ll all be dead before you even realize it was there.”

Miss Yadar strode out of the shelter gate at that moment. Her brows furrowed under an imposing turban.

“The girl is right. Get in. We’ll open the shelter again if… when Inspector Shinoda returns. Hurry in. You too, girl.”

Nestra shook her head.

“Gotta help.”

“It is suicide. You are wearing a cocktail dress and I see no weapons on you.”

“I still have a few tricks up my sleeve,” Nestra claimed though it was obvious Yadar didn’t believe a word of it. In the end, the old woman merely shrugged.

“It is your funeral, warrior. You lot, in. Now.”

The congee seller lobbed her shotgun at Nestra, who grabbed it. It was a pretty nice automatic piece with some ammo stuck to the side. It would certainly be effective against a dokkaebi. An ammo pouch followed.

“Thanks.”

“Try to bring it back. It’s real leather. A family heirloom.”

“I shall try.”

The blast door sealed with a clunk.

It was quiet here. For now.

Nestra swore, stretched her tired shoulders, then she was off.

***

Part 17

Nestra’s sprint quickly turned into a jog. She was too tired to sprint all the way there, in those shoes. It had been a long week and even her true self was tired, so the human mask was really not happy about it. The underground utility and evacuation tunnels lacked fresh coffee, unfortunately, so she grit her teeth and persevered.

It was quiet down here, for now. Dust and the scent of rot tickled her nose though the tunnels were holding well for their age. Threshold’s bowels were dimly lit by sparse ceiling light that failed to dispel the shadows. Only Nestra’s feet made a pitter patter on the concrete ground. Besides that, it was silent as a tomb.

Nestra slowed down to check her gun and make sure the ammo pouch was easily in reach. It gave her some time to think and decide what she would do, how far she was willing to go to defend others. Her shotgun would kill dokkaebi easily enough but that would only be the first, frantic wave. Even if portal monsters were weaker on earth, it would still take several twelve gauge to the face to stop a D-class threat. She didn’t have her gear. She didn’t even have her sword. If Shinoda’s herd of idiots got caught up, she would have to fight at a fraction of her abilities.

That meant, people might die. She had to decide now if she was willing to let them die to protect her secret because although Gorge knew about her, he was actually an honorable asshole. He wouldn’t talk. She was confident about that. A group of strangers? No. They would talk.

Risk her life for strangers?

Hmmm.

Probably not, but she would risk it for Shinoda. It was cruel but… it was them or her, and she wasn’t willing to die for strangers. They were not entitled to her life.

Decision made, Nestra moved faster, doing her best to ignore the cold ball in her stomach. The one that said ‘what if it’s a kid?’. She hoped she wouldn’t have to find out. Soon after, she reached a branch in the tunnel.

Where were they again? Shit, had she even asked? Both tunnels led to other places on Fifteen. Tragically, there were no directions she could recognize.

“Fuck, I need to call Flash.”

The deafening sound of gunshot rang from the left tunnel. It reverberated and made her wince.

“Nevermind.”

She sprinted this time. Screams and snarls joined the din and she chambered a shell in anticipation. The tunnel turned sharply. She scrambled to a stop before she could hit an old woman carrying a wailing child. Beyond, a group of maybe fifty people were fighting off a swarm of rat creatures.

Nestra took in the situation as she aimed. The group had not totally devolved into chaos yet but it was a close call, with monsters nipping at their heels and harrying the more isolated people. The refugees were an eclectic bunch. Only herd instinct and terror held them together.

A burly man pushed one of the creatures off a teenager. Manarattus Viridae. One of the weakest dokkaebi around. Lucky them. Time to help.

She pulled the trigger.

Boom. Recoil. Splattered meat. Turn and aim. Boom. Recoil. Decapitated rat. Turn and aim. Rinse and repeat. After eight shots, the gun clicked empty. She batted a rat mid-air then chambered more rounds, but eight victims in a short time turned the tide. The front of the swarm retreated, and prey nature took over. They fled back. They left behind many of their corpses as well as stunned human survivors, many sporting scratch marks. A woman was dying on the ground with her throat ripped out while a young man clutched her hand.

The group broke off then. Many of them raced ahead with a small thank you but others were left without direction. The air was thick with fear. They needed orders.

“Don’t wait here! Go, go!”

She reloaded while they rushed on. Face after face passed by and eventually, the back of the group came into view. Solid men and women, some armed with guns and others with knives, bats, rebar, whatever they could get their hands on. They were the most wounded of the lot and some were carried on the back of their companions. Even the dead ones.

Shinoda wasn’t there.

“The Japanese policeman, where is he?” she asked an old guy with a machete. He tried to brush her off but she turned him around using a pain point. The snarl on his face died when he noticed the muzzle of her shotgun.

“The Japanese policeman.”

“Shenme? Ah, yes. Yes. At the back, with the militia. They… I hope they’re alright. We got separated at the bend.”

She was off before he could finish his sentence. More dead mana rats, at the back. They must have been frenzied to keep going instead of eating their victims, and there were plenty of those. A teenage girl leaned against the wall, having tripped, maybe. Gone. A mother with her toddler, both dead. An old man with two stones. He’d killed three before bleeding out. The trail of dead rats grew wider then, and she realized she’d caught the very end of the battle. Images flooded her mind, angles, perspectives, dead monsters and dead persons. Checking her corners not to get blindsided by something only playing dead. All to forget what should be there but wasn’t. Finally a trio of rats jumped at her from behind a crate. Boom, boom, block the last one. Tiny clawed hand scrambled on the black metal of the barrel. Beady black eyes, filled with frenzy. Rage, so much rage. The teeth snapped at her when she twisted, then slammed the beast against the wall. Its spine cracked. She lifted her foot to crush its head before remembering she was wearing fucking pumps with the toes exposed. Soft soles.

“Balls.”

Nestra left the dying rodent behind. She chambered another two shells.

Ahead, something stepped out of the shadow.

The last surviving overhead lamp shone on green scales, then a wide crest that reached her throat. A stooped back. Claws. She recognized it from shows and warning videos. Neosaurian, Threshold version. The lowest carnivorous rung of a very long food chain.

D-class.

Nestra shot it. The beast seemed to merge with the shadows in a confusing mix of colors but she mostly got it. Blood sprayed on the ground when she hit something important, hit it again when it squealed. It was already halfway to her. She aimed for the head, got it in the crest. More blood sprayed and it stumbled. Another shot, this time, under the eye. She missed the sixth one. The seventh got it in the chest. It fell down with a piteous squeal, shivering from the pain. The eight shot finished the beheading the others had started.

The gun clicked empty. Nestra’s ears rang. She frantically reloaded, just in case, but there was nothing yet. This was it, really. This was the limit of what she could do with human tools and even then, the shotgun had massive stopping power and she’d relied on quirkie reflexes. Anything more and she was done for.

She knew what it meant but she still pressed on. Another corpse. A man with a machine gun, neck torn off by a lucky attack. A woman with a blood-soaked frying pan. Nestra heard the sound of mastication ahead.

It was a large room. The human defenders had used a line of crates as an improvised barricade. Several neosaurs lie dead, with more rats splattered all over the place. Typical horde scene since those monsters would normally kill each other, but kaijus always seemed to override their aggression to center it on humans. A couple of neosaurs fed on the young man Shinoda had almost dropped from the balcony on his first day here. They stopped to raise a muzzle when she walked in.

There were half a dozen dead fighters here, human baselines who’d made the ultimate sacrifice to cover the civilians’ retreat. The hint of tan duster caught her attention. She looked down and to her right, near the entrance. Shinoda was here. He was, of course, dead. A neosaur had planted a clawed hand into his chest, which felt like an overkill really, though the old inspector had taken it out with him. The pistol Nestra’s lent him had done good. Just…not good enough.

And shattering his chest felt like such a dick move. Completely unnecessary. He was probably out of breath the whole time too.

Nestra tossed the shotgun aside just as the neosaurs charged her. She was too late anyway.

There was really no more need to hold back.

Nestra surged out of her mask. She slapped the first neoasaur’s entire face away with a void-clawed hand. Got into his guard and hit the pathetic thing. She pushed the second one’s extended arms to the side, grabbed it by the throat. Smashed it against the wall. Watched its slitted eyes.

“I have had… enough of you.”

Cracked the neckbones and tossed it aside. More grunts and roars, more squeaks. Was it something in her conditioner that made all the monsters attack her so rabidly?

It didn’t matter.

Neosaurs, one after the other. She danced aside as she carved, one swipe each. She struck as they did but their claws only found air because they were predictable and she wasn’t. She moved forward, beyond the barricade to the mass of fur returning like a tide. It was enough to punch the mana rats to cave their little chests in or bash their fragile skulls, snap their brittle spines. Celerity from the neosaurs and resilience from the rats suffused her body, keeping her going past her exhaustion in a manic fashion. Excitement rushed through her veins like too many coffees. She had to keep going. The why stopped mattering. Why was she holding this place? Why was she facing the tide? It didn’t matter anymore. All that mattered was this place. All that mattered was the horde she was going to kill. The mana rats bit at her but her Skin stopped most of it. Those that managed to draw a bit of blood were soon crushed. Too many though, she used momentum to step back. The mass grew confused but she killed the outliers and the dance continued. She was the Scornful Crescent now, untouchable, frustrating every strategy with an insufferable counter. She was always a step ahead of the storm of claws and nibbling teeth. She was fists and speed and they were chasing after a ghost. The horde died on her knuckles and under her heels. She was gore-drenched but smiling, always smiling, and after blood covered every free last piece of ground, the few survivors broke off to find easier prey. But more came.

The first was a charging turtle that must have smashed through something to get in, so thick it was. Top of D-class.

Nestra didn’t hesitate. Her fingers extended and the potential bloomed on the creature’s exposed throat. Gray light turned the tunnel monochrome, and the turtle’s entire head disappeared in a flash. The resulting explosion shook the walls and took a chunk off Nestra’s reserves, but she had a little bit more now.

Something crawled over the smoking shell. It was clearly insectile, and black. Nestra spotted a raising head and ducked, and not a moment too soon. A red thread covered the path she’d followed. Where it touched the concrete, it smoked and turned to glass. She used momentum to close the distance and precision on a mana blade to catch the armored creature in the brain. Another high D-class, fortunately not too fast. This one’s essence filled her bones and the heat coming off the ground didn’t seem so intense anymore either. She sidestepped a massive jumping spider, then another. The first died from a foot blade through the thorax. Her mana control inexplicably improved, confirmed when she killed the second one just as it was pushing on her mind with… something.

She crushed more neosaurs until they no longer improved her, then a spine caught her in the arm though it barely penetrated. She found a quill-covered creature only as large as a small dog creeping on her. She made a slightly longer blade and it died as well. More spiders, still D-class. She was pushed back towards the barricade room. There were less monsters but they were stronger now, and she was still killing them as they came. They didn’t work together. They were never meant to work together. Only the Kaiju’s presence urged them on and it was a weakening thing. She slipped through the cracks of their chaos on tippy toes with a claw here and a blade there and they simply couldn’t catch up. Errant strikes tore through the Skin but her blood and energy grew it back and it never did much damage. She was already beyond them. It wasn’t a battle. It wasn’t even a slaughter. It was… a buffet. Such variety, such interesting abilities to discover, tactics to learn and exploit. The spiders could harden their skin to resist magic if they saw an attack coming, a discovery that cost her a gash on her flank. A butterfly with a deafening sound attack came though she crushed it fast. An acid-spitting leech almost sprayed her, though she used one of the many corpses as an umbrella. Always on the move. Momentum and precision gave her the distance and executions she needed to catch a breath. She could always retreat through the wall but why stop? The Scornful Crescent had led her to such a feast.

Nestra killed and she grew. The spiders were no longer a threat if she slightly delayed her attacks. Neosaurs became a complete non issue. Another creature spitting lava died before it could strike. A snake tried to coil around her but it was too slow and its head, too exposed to her void blade. It was when she killed a strange, hairless creature without a head that she realized something peculiar.

She wasn’t getting stronger anymore in one aspect. Her muscles were as powerful as they were going to get without… adding something. Instead, the mana swirled in her chest. It didn’t dissipate as before, or at least, not as fast. There was just a very light pressure. Her resilience was next after crushing a blue salamander that spat water and made her more resistant to cold. She wiped its blood on her Skin and then… there was a lull. Shrieks still came but they were distant.

She became aware, fully aware of the mountain of corpses in front of her. At this point, it no longer looked like food. It was a charnel pit. The stench of blood and bowels turned her empty stomach. Her vision swam, just a little. So hungry but… so disgusted as well. She ignored the pain from several light wounds to turn around, returning to the barricade she had left behind at some point. She heard a clash. A screech of pain. She moved faster.

Standing above the body of Shinoda was a gleam. She blinked away the exhaustion, found the white uniform of the Threshold Police Users. He turned to her and gasped, his mouth opened. The heavy mace in his hand hit the ground with a thunk.

It was Valerian.

Of course it was. Shit. Instead of attacking immediately, the idiot lifted a shaking arm.

“Errrrr. Nestra?”

It was Nestra’s turn to blink. Some of her battle focus fell away. She became more aware of her surroundings outside of immediate danger. The squelching under her naked toes. The high temperature. The stench. Her throat obeyed her command, becoming more like her human self but with a lower pitch.

“Hmmm how could you tell it was me?”

“You have the exact same face? Hello?”

“Ooooh right. Right.”

The two stood around awkwardly. Nestra wasn’t sure what to do. She wasn’t exactly the most socially competent person around.

Well, might as well.

“Could you please keep this a secret?”

“Nevermind that, how are you a gleam? You have no core! Wait, it’s a camouflage thing? Does your family know? Damn, my mom told me I would never be attracted to a baseline — no offense — and here I was thinking I had proven her wrong and bam!”

“Hmmm, sorry but…”

“Oh I know I know you’re not interested, can’t help my heart though, can I?”

“You’ll move on,” she said more out of habit. “About me looking like that?”

“Oh yeah, I won’t tell. Obviously. You know you can count on me. Right?”

“I was hoping very hard. Truth is… this is very new.”

The gleam looked at the literal hill of savaged corpses she’d left behind.

“Yeah?”

“Yes.”

The shrieks were getting closer.

“Look, about what I said. I can boost you. I mean, it should work, most likely? Can I try?”

Nestra frowned. What was he… oh, the buffs. He did mention buffs.

Well.

Worst case scenario she could always escape. Valerian had been killing fast, comparatively weaker creatures according to the bodies around him so that side of the tunnel was still on the safer side. And she was really tired so the buffs would help.

“Yes please.”

“Ok, here we go!”

The sensation was one of soothing warmth. At first, her body resisted and Valerian winced, but his jade eyes soon widened. The spell was taking hold. Nestra’s exhaustion washed away as if she’d suddenly had a nice nap and a bowl of something tasty. Miso ramen, maybe.

“You are… exhausted. Strained too hard. You’re going to crash hard when the spell breaks.”

“No choice, unless we fall back.”

“The surface is worse and I’d rather not lead them to the shelter. They’re safe, by the way, And…”

They both turned to Shinoda, then to the other human bodies.

“I just don’t want us to be eaten. Call me crazy but it’s just… not right.”

“No, it’s not,” she agreed. “They deserve better. They deserve the last rites. It’s important,” she replied with conviction.

Valerian grunted, then he lifted his mace. It looked quite heavy.

“Look, I’ve seen you move from the back. Thought you were some sort of scout C-class in a mask, to be honest. I’ll cover you. Give them hell.”

“When reinforcements come…”

“Turn back to normal and I’ll just say it was like this when I arrived. Let’s focus on fighting, for now. I hope I’m not making a mistake by deciding to stay. You can turn back to normal, right? This isn’t permanent?”

“No no.”

“Ok, great. Here they come. Let’s get them here before they spread across the entire fucking district and we have to give chase.”

“Ok.”

Nestra was acting much more confident than she was feeling. Gorge knew and she was fine with it but Valerian? He was a damn gleam. But she couldn’t murder him, it would be like killing a puppy. And especially not after losing Shinoda. And just… it was Valerian. Her… sort of friend.

Her demon self was immensely confused. He wasn’t kin, but he was still brother in arms. Or something like that. Her mind struggled with the concepts just as the snarls and roars of the horde grew closer. She was too tired. Even the spell was already unraveling at the seams. She just had to keep going. It was too much of a good opportunity and the tunnel was a great chokepoint. Or maybe hubris was getting to her and they ought to be fleeing towards the nearest battle, hoping to catch the attention of a B-class raider. She spared a glance towards Valerian who was now standing with his back to her and his mace firmly held.

He was so confident she could do it.

The idiot.

His blind trust chased the anxiety away. She could still get away with secrecy if nobody looked too hard and they probably wouldn’t. Here was a tide of varied and interesting foes to kill. She just had to lean into her nature and make it work.

The first were rats, again, and Nestra methodically crushed them. They no longer provided her with any essence at all. Next came a group of green insects the size of children, looking like large, compact mantis. They were almost as fast as her but they followed a basic pattern and after getting a single cut on her arm, Nestra was able to bait the first strike reliably. A massive wolf thing was next and she was forced to fall back to avoid being bitten. It just closed the distance and snapped at her, so she used momentum to get behind it and let the size of the tunnel prevent it from turning too quickly. Nestra clung to its black fur and stabbed, and stabbed again with a short void blade. It smashed her against the wall but she held on, though it stole her breath. Finally, she cleaved a long gash along its flank and it fled away. A yelp of pain showed it didn’t go very far. The kaiju’s influence was unraveling, with monsters fleeing or turning on each other. She just had to hold a little longer. She tried to catch her breath but a large, rock biped was next. It was slow, so she easily used its thunderous attacks to manage the next group of mantis, staying ahead of them. They still gave her essence but it fed into her chest now because she was as fast as she could get. Once the mantises were dead, she struck the golem in the chest with precision and the most concentrated void blade she could muster.

Its outer skin exploded.

Nestra used immovable at the last instant but the shrapnel still bit into her in many places. She was bleeding now. Her regeneration wasn’t following anymore, and Valerian’s spell only helped a little. Golem was dead though and her resilience increased yet again.

Fire hit her leg, and she dodged another as pain seared her mind. Fireball-tossing monkeys of all things. She used momentum to run into the troupe and crushed them, using their bodies as shields, then she raced back with more mana in her pool to avoid the charge of a sort of… metal unicorn?

Its horn shone.

Nestra jumped behind the golem corpse. Magical energy pierced through it like butter. She used momentum to roll under the beam, then punched up and with a blade using precision. The strike caught the unicorn under the jaw, killing it instantly. She got a lot of power from that one.

There were fighting sounds from Valerian’s side but here, at the edge of the tunnel, silence was returning.

That… that was it? Maybe? Strange though, she could swear…

The only warning she had was a pool of darkness on her left, in the wall. She recognized it from the infinite war world. It was a standard maneuver for shadow users: teleport through darkness and strike from a blind spot. She twisted on herself to avoid snapping teeth but something caught her in the shoulder and sent her careening. Momentum saved her life. The creature was fast, much faster than her. It was all she could do to stay ahead. It merged with the darkness, a snarling mass of chitin-covered muscles and a head made only of teeth. Long claws on its digits. A horrifying shape halfway towards human but too elongated and far too muscular. She didn’t know what the fuck it was but she decided, right there, to call it the Shadow Beast. Nestra fell back towards the barricade but the creature was fast, too fast and she couldn’t shake it off. Dodging was all she could manage, even then it was a close call. The Stalk of the Scornful Crescent helped her stay just one step ahead but it couldn’t last. In desperation, she turned and raised her left arm. She activated immovable. As the thing slapped her. Claws bit into her arm and shoulder but she was still standing. Potential bloomed on the creature and it… veered away.

A cataclysmic boom shook the entire tunnel. Parts of the wall in front of her exploded in a shower of dust. The beast screeched. It lashed out. Pain flared in her side when she was smacked into the barricade. Hurting all over, really all over. Valerian’s spell was working overtime to keep her functional. She had maybe a few seconds more.

“Aaaaaah!”

Valerian jumped on the Shadow Beast, bloody mace raised high. The creature casually batted him away into a nearby wall.

“Oof!”

Nestra aimed her last bolt. Her ears picked up the sound of dying monsters. Cavalry was almost here. Just had to hold for a little longer. Using the time Valerian had granted her, she pushed potential in the Shadow Beast’s face. The maddened creature opened its maw wide to bite on her.

She let it go.

Gray energy tore through her target, then a geyser of blood splattered her. Decapitated. A fantastic spike of energy flooded her, pushing her awareness and resilience to their limit. A diffuse warmth lingered in her chest but even the rush of power could not protect her anymore. She barely managed enough strength to reactivate her mask before Valerian’s support finally fizzled. She was the most tired she’d ever been in her life. The last thing she saw was a pair of worried jade iris but the concrete was simply too comfortable. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

***

When Nestra came to, she was warm and lying on something soft. And that was weird. She was also starving and hurting all over which was much more within her expectations. Below her was a cot in some well-lit place but still underground, a sort of recess more than a room separated from the rest by a drawn curtain. The susurrus of conversations drifted from behind the symbolic line, as did the scent of tomato soup. It nicely covered the smell of blood, rust, and her own sweat. She was wearing her filthy cocktail dress, still. Her throat itched. Thirsty.

“Here, here,” Valerian said as he shoved a straw in her mouth.

She gulped tepid water with relish, though moving her arm hurt terribly. Her true self must be really messed up if even her human body felt the aches. Moving around through, she realized the light didn’t come from a lamp as she’d originally thought.

It came from a man. A gleam in golden plate armor. Their aura was so controlled she hadn’t realized they were here. Her gaze drifted up from a pilum and a strange leaf-like shield to dark skin under a thick helmet and two soft golden eyes shining like the sun itself.

“Mazingwe?”

The calm doctor’s face tilted to the side. It was a strange and terrifying expression in someone usually so warm. The gesture chilled her.

“Sorry, Doctor Mazingwe.”

“I see your memory is intact, at least. Valerian, if you would give us a moment?”

“What? Oh, sure. Sir.”

He left with a last worried glance and Nestra saw something there she didn’t like at all. Pity.

“Oh no.”

Mazingwe made a small black orb appear seemingly out of thin air. The sounds from outside grew immediately muted.

“Oh noooo.”

“Do not blame him,” the doctor said in a guarded voice. “He was concerned after you could not be woken up and agreed to share more about your conditions under a seal of secrecy. My oath as a doctor means that your medical details are safe with me. Unfortunately, my oath as a defender of mankind supersedes it, so now I must ascertain, are you my Clytemnestra Palladian or are you a monster wearing her skin?”

Nestra felt pressure. This was bad.

“I told you I hate that name,” she said.

“So you did, many times.”

“I am still me.”

“Your words speak in favor of this hypothesis. Were you always able to assume… another form?” he asked.

It felt like a very, very, very bad idea to lie to him.

“No.”

“No?”

“Really no. I only figured it out right after the purge.”

“Right after the purge?”

“Yes!”

He waited.

“I am under the impression you are hiding things from me.”

“Well yeah I was and I am, but the question here is: am I a monster and the answer is no.”

“The answer is no?”

“The answer is no.”

Another silence. His voice was low and soft but there was something in the intensity in his gaze that meant he would kill her in an instant.

“How would I know that you’re you, and not some skinchangers or some other creature?”

“Riel, doctor, how the fuck do you expect me to prove that? I don’t even know for sure. Maybe I woke up with the exact same souvenirs but since there were no corpses and it still feels like me, I’m going to apply Occam’s razor and say it’s me, alright? It’s me. Still mostly the same as far as I can tell.”

“You are not human,” he stated with absolute confidence.

“How the fuck would you know that?”

“You think you’re still human?”

She froze. He got her there.

“Well, hmm.”

“Yes?”

“I, uh, I don’t —”

“You don’t what?”

Nestra clenched her teeth. This was all going wrong. He’d found a crack and dug in and there was no amount of bullshit that could save her now. Still had to try.

“I am what I am. And who I am. Maybe I’m a weird human. How would you know?”

Mazingwe considered long and hard. Nestra was tempted to ask him if he was lagging or something. When he finally spoke, he was even more guarded than before.

“A long time ago, Vanquisher’s alpha team came across a… strange being in a portal world.”

Nestra blinked. Vanquisher was North America’s top guild by a large margin. Their Alpha Team had to include stars like Cyrrhus and The Mangler.

“They were tested and they were beaten. Portal Worlds of their levels have entire groups of seemingly sentient entities, though they only have a semblance of civilization, so meeting one wasn’t particularly a surprise. Being beaten was. Being spared after that confirmed they were not dealing with a maddened portal creature.”

“What?”

“The stranger didn’t kill any of them. Eventually, Shiloh managed to shoot him at point-blank range and then something surprising happened.”

Nestra was almost hanging from her bed. This was… classified information.

“The stranger changed. He grew in size and revealed black horns, black eyes, sharper teeth. Gray skin. He congratulated the team for breaking his… mask. In English.”

Nestra was so excited. Someone like her. Finally, knowledge!

“He told them they were not ripe yet before leaving them. The Vanquishers collected a sample of the little blood they’d managed to shed. I compared it to the one found on your dress. It seems your own… mask… was breached a little, whatever that means. I could obviously not check the highly classified Pandora database from here but many of its attributes were similar. Gray then oxidized to red. You are not human Nestra. You are a Cacodaimon Anthropomimesis. A gray demon, as your kind was dubbed.”

“Caco whatever,” she stubbornly replied. “It’s me. You know it’s me. Now, I know where this can go.”

“Yes,” Mazingwe said.

He seemed sad.

“They’ll kill me if you tell them. Or worse.”

“I will reveal your presence to Shinran and his team only. He’s not the kind of person to execute others for who they are, believe me. There is no need to spread it to the public, however he, as Threshold’s guardian, must know. I am sorry, Nestra. You will be coming with me.”

The room darkened.

Mazingwe’s magical tool splintered on the spot. Outside of the room, all conversations had instantly died. All that was left was a group of people breathing heavily. Even Mazingwe’s light felt dimmer. The high gleam himself was now standing in front of Nestra, to his credit defending her, facing the curtain opening.

Stomp stomp. Someone was coming. Slowly. They were taking their sweet time.

A stooped shape stopped in front of the flimsy fabric. It was absolutely fucking massive. More than three meters high, far above even the tallest human, and strong. A large white hand grabbed the curtain then pulled it apart. It revealed an angular, humanoid face with eyes as black as the void under twin forward-jutting curved horns. The being smiled a forest of abyssal needles. It was Seth. The fucking baker. His voice was low yet very soft, and comforting to her, somehow.

“Hello little sister,” he said in the strange hissing language.

His attention turned to Mazingwe. This time, his voice carried the promise of death. And he spoke in English.

“She won’t be coming with you.”

Part 18

“No one is going with you,” Mazingwe growled.

Seth seemed completely unbothered. He merely tilted his head before replying with a nod.

“That would be my first choice as well.”

The high gleam still stood between them. Wait, Mazingwe was defending her?

“You see, humans need their packs and little Nezhra is still very young and she would be very sad if those bonds were broken. And her being sad would make me very, very angry. Were you not about to break those connections?”

“This is the best option. The best one I could think of.”

“Reconsider.”

Mazingwe’s aura flared ever so slightly. Seth was still aloof.

“Shinran would have protected her. And before I reconsider anything, what happened to the people outside?”

“Oooooh they’ll be just fine. They won’t even remember it. Just having a moment of introspection and being very focused on their toes right now. Everyone is fine. Everyone is alive. For now.”

“For now?”

“Yes! Pending on your decision.”

“Sounds like you want everyone to stay that way.”

“Correct. And it depends on you.”

“And what would it take for everyone to stay alive?”

Seth moved his head again. He was doing that a lot, as if it was part of his language which was weird considering he was the same as her and she didn’t feel the need to do it. Maybe a difference? Actually, now that she was looking more, his face was less human than hers, the eyes larger, and he had very long, very sharp ears while hers were only slightly pointed. Not to mention the horns were different. She wasn’t sure what to think about it.

“Easy. Swear on your core not to betray her secret and we’re good.”

“You just want me not to tell her secret?”

“That’s right,” demon Seth said, eyes half-lidded over a knowing smile.

“And let two demons loose around mankind?”

“I think there are four things you’re forgetting,” Seth replied quickly. “One, she clearly cares about you and your kind much more than many of your own humans. Two, I was already loose around mankind before this moment. And I have been loose for a while, which you didn’t notice. We have masks, remember? Three, the alternative is that we fight and you know, as an experienced warrior, that you do not stand a chance against me.”

“Not a chance against you?”

“Shinran couldn’t do it.”

He smirked, and Mazingwe seemed to tense though Nestra couldn’t see his face from that angle. It was still weird that he was standing between Seth and her as a protective guardian despite his words.

“Which leads me to my fourth point,” Seth said “What you’re doing is mirroring which is an interrogation and negotiation technique. I’ve studied human law enforcement extensively and I do not think you appreciate the position you are in, so I will make it clear. You will accept my terms and swear on your core, or your city will be razed to the ground.”

“You say you faced Shinran? And yet the city somehow didn’t hear about it?”

“I faced him inside of a portal world, obviously. I didn’t want the city to know, just him.”

Seth’s smile widened.

“He’s full of surprises. But that is not for me to share.”

“I want you two gone. I do not hate her but…”

“That is not an option for you. I will have the oath from you or you will die. You will respect the oath or the city will die. Those are your options.”

“It sounds like —”

“No. No tricks. Choose.”

Mazingwe actually considered dying for the cause, for nothing. And condemning those outside. Seth must have perceived it because he continued in a soft voice.

“I swear that Shinran knows I am here. I also solemnly swear that since I arrived here, I have not taken a single human life. We both want peace here, but I also want little Nezhra to be happy. Desist.”

“If Shinran really knows, surely he will confirm it.”

Seth tilted his head again, probably considering the offer.

“I have no objection. No one else.”

“Very well. For the sake of peace and life, I agree not to share Miss Palladian’s secret identity with anybody in any way except for Shinran.”

“Good enough for me. Remember, you talk and…”

Seth shrugged. The gesture moved his massive body in a rather intimidating way.

“Very well.”

“And now I will be leaving. With her. Come with me Nezhra. We have to talk.”

“Oh yeah we definitely do.”

Nestra managed to move her tired body up though it was a colossal effort that should have been rewarded with a large slice of something caloric. Mazingwe helped her out, though he didn’t let his guard down.

“Miss Palladian,” Mazingwe said.

She turned to the imposing high gleam.

“Medical checkup tomorrow, 10 AM, my office. On your other body as well.”

“But it’s Sunday!”

“Don’t be late.”

“Aw. Ok. Oh, can I ask a question, doctor?”

“Hmm?”

“You finding us first, was that a coincidence or were you looking for me?”

The high gleam shifted from foot to foot. It was kind of hilarious.

“My duty is to protect my people from incursions. Nothing says I should not prioritize well-meaning yet insufferably risk-prone officers first.”

“Aw, you’re a softie!”

“Pot. Kettle.”

“And you are, in fact, Dawn Spear. Wow, I would never have guessed.”

“Get out, Palladian, before I lose my patience.”

“Ok ok.”

Nestra followed Seth’s imposing form out into a shelter. Tomato soup bubbled in a large pot while people waited around or rested in cots. They all stared at their feet with great intensity, as if spacing out. Maybe that’s how it felt to them? Even Valerian was affected. The most curious thing was that Nestra didn’t feel anything besides Seth’s presence, and it was comforting. A bit of the void energy of the portals emanated from him and he smelled really good as well. Safe. He gave her a lopsided grin before addressing her in the demon tongue.

“I have prepared a meal!”

“Oh good!”

“You must be ravenous. Let’s get there first, then we can talk.”

“Ok.”

Seth walked her through the unmoving bodies of the sick bay. The tomato soup was dangerously bubbling. Valerian was leaning against a pillar in a state of anguish. The traitor, She was pissed at him but… only a little bit. He’d broken his word out of concern for her well-being. It was the wrong decision but, if she had to be honest, if Shinoda told her he was fine but he clearly wasn’t, she would not respect his wishes aaaand it would not happen now. Damn.

Shinoda was dead.

Felt so sudden. Never had the chance to say goodbye, or even good luck or something. She couldn’t cut Valerian off now but she would scream at him.

The door of the sick bay slammed shut behind them and the conversations picked up immediately. She heard the cook swear a storm too. Seth energetically dragged her through corridors packed with supply crates and sleeping people. This was clearly underground but outside of a shelter, maybe some sort of exchange node? The usual smell of dust and stagnant humidity made orientation difficult. To her mild surprise, Seth led her deeper underground until they were in some sort of pump room. Faint traces of void energy told her a portal might be nearby but it was far too diffused for her to use. Not for Seth, apparently. He waved his hand in the air, then grabbed her own small human limb and dragged her through the fabric of the world.

Just like that.

She gasped. Heat on her human skin and filtering through the sole of her shoes. The stench of sulfur. Cracked basalt poked with marks, smoke blowing up from stone chimneys. A dark orange sky. They were now in a portal world in some volcanic island. Strange shelled creatures as large as cows skittered a way when Seth sauntered forth. A deadly silence filled the place. The tall demon made his way straight to the edge of the portal world and the membrane there. He placed a massive mitt against the surface. Or in front of it. It wasn’t exactly solid, or even there to begin with. Seth turned at the last moment with a worried look.

“Oh, right. I told you this before but don’t do it at home!”

“I remember ok?”

“Yes yes but sometimes you younglings just want to try stuff. Don’t do it.”

Once again, he pushed and unceremoniously dragged her through it, which felt like falling off a cliff, being pushed through a mattress and choking all at the same time.

“Blegh,” Nestra said.

Then she blinked, realizing they were back on earth in a large apartment, or at least it looked like one. The outer walls were a little weird.

Whoever had designed the place really favored open spaces. There were support pillars but otherwise, only the bedroom and bathroom were separated and even then, it looked like recent work. Furniture and shelves stood in harmonious arrangements but the concept of room was firmly denied.

“Welcome to my home away from home! You are the second person to visit it. You must be hungry!”

She was, in fact, ravenous. Seth navigated through carefully arranged seats and tables to a cooking… place covering a large part of the apartment’s corner. He did something with his hands and dishes appeared on an American-style table. Nestra hesitated. She wanted to eat in demon form. She could smell the mana from here.

“You’ll be fine,” Seth told her, kind abyssal eyes centered on her.

She just knew they were even if there was nothing but darkness. Weird. Too hungry to give it more thought, she removed the mask and the pain moved to the forefront. It was all she could do not to groan, though her Skin had thankfully cleaned her up, somehow. She was at least not actively bleeding but her healing had slowed down, probably due to a lack of nutrients. Seth’s dishes were Japanese-inspired which reminded her, again, of Shinoda, and made her sad. She gulped down the miso soup in seconds. It had some salmon bits in it. Delicious.

“Enjoy!” Seth said with great pride.

Nestra had questions but she dug in first. Seth wasn’t going anywhere anyway. Gyozas in soy sauce were next, then came the ramen. The broth was perfect. The egg hit her taste buds with a wall of rich umami flavors. And there was mana there, not just in the meat but in the noodles as well! It was absolutely great.

“Hm! Hm!”

“I know, I am so pleased that humans dedicated so much effort to gastronomy. There are even knife techniques that are just for preparing food! Imagine that!”

“Hm.”

“Yes, you eat and I will explain. I am not sure what your thinking process is, so how about you ask the first question?”

Nestra slurped the end of her noodles and chewed faster than she would have liked just so she could speak.

“Seriously? You can’t imagine what I want to know? Like, what are we, to begin with?”

Seth was a strange mix of giddy and cautious. It was baffling.

“Yes! Of course. We are the People.”

In demon tongue it sounded Ashzii and was a bit of a hiss, one that a human mouth would struggle to reproduce and yet she could. It was… very strange.

“I told you I would share some of what we are with you when you reach the second sphere, ah, that is C-rank, and you are already there! I only need to teach you how to start building a core after you have recovered a little.”

“I am C-rank?”

“On the cusp of it, but please let us talk about that later.”

“Right. Hm! The meat is delicious.”

“Enclave prime pork cheek. Sadly, I cannot tell you much. Please know that we are old players in many worlds and that you are one of us. In fact, you are the first of us of human descent! And you are female! How very auspicious!”

His enthusiasm cast an immediate dread in Nestra’s heart to the extent she actually stopped eating. The term he’d used told her demon society placed a lot of emphasis on the difference between their genders.

“What do you mean, a woman is auspicious?”

“There are more than a hundred men born for every woman!”

An uncomfortable calculation wormed its way into Nestra’s mind. Her next words were enunciated very carefully.

“Ok, I need to make this clear. If you are counting on me to repopulate the species, I have very bad news…”

“No! Nooooo!”

Seth waved his hands with agitation. He almost looked revolted at the thought.

“Sorry, I should have led with that. Men and Women of the People do not… make babies together! Many of our women never bear children! It is the role of men to, ah, make more demon babies with other sentients. Your role is different! You are here for the portals!”

He seemed very excited about that.

“The portals?”

“Yes! The women guide our war parties on the rare occasions when we unite against those who seek to exterminate us, and… but I shouldn’t share too much yet. You do portals! Openings through the weave. And you also gather in covens to have the men leave you alone and negotiate if they need a portal. Us men can still create openings and you can still change aspects of your shape, but making paths where none exist, that is the power of the women! We males are the ones who change shape and find suitable, ah, partners.”

“Sooooo you’re telling me you, what, have sex with other species and it creates demon babies.”

“Yes.”

Vertigo made Nestra’s mind swim.

“Oooooh shit. Oh shit. Wait, we are a species of CUCKOOS?”

“The, ah, the comparison is… not accurate!”

Nestra was horrified.

“My mom had sex with a demon? What? Wait, are my brother and sister…”

Seth winced. He raised both hands in a very affected way which was really strange to see on such a large being.

“I am sorry, I should have presented it better. You are the only People in your human family. Look, you are not going to like what I tell you and there is nothing I can do to soften the blow. Our father is… not a kind being.”

“What the fuck did he do?”

“He took on your human father’s appearance one night and, hmm, yeah.”

“Yeah? YEAH? Oh my GOD. Riel fucking dammit REALLY?”

“Sorry.”

“He had sex with my mom while masquerading as my dad?”

“Sorry.”

“And, just, I was born like that?”

“Yes.”

“The child of a deception?!”

“I am sorry, little Nezhra. Gray demons only reproduce with women of other sentient races and then take on some of the characteristics of their parent race. This is the way of the People. Demons will mostly not care about harming families. They will pick stronger hosts in the hope of providing the best conditions for their offspring.”

“This is fucked up.”

“This is what we are.”

Nestra pushed the bowl of ramen away. So much for her appetite.

She wasn’t her dad’s kid. Well. She didn’t even know how to feel about it. He was a little bit clueless when it came to parenting but… he’d tried. And he was her dad. What… what did it all mean?

And she was the living reminder some asshole had deceived her mom.

It took a solid two minutes for Nestra just to tank the emotional blow, by then she felt emotionally empty and just wanted to flood her mind with more stuff to chase the disgust away.

“Are you sure Helena isn’t one of us? She shares our power.”

“Yes. I had a look and… indeed, void energy, The first such occurrence that I know of. I even asked a coven member when I was… momentarily gone.”

“To get more Kero nuts.”

“Among other things.”

“That you ate.”

“Ionlyatethefirstbatch.”

“What was that?”

“I am sorry, please let me finish. Helena… shouldn’t have been born. The demon child will change its mother’s body in order to survive pregnancy. The mother should only be able to bear demon children after that. This case is mysterious. The coven woman demanded answers.”

“What but then… oh…”

“Hm?”

“Helena is an IVF kid. My parents… well I learned in retrospect that they struggled with having her. Damn, that explains why she’s… not well adjusted. I’ve got to help her.”

“Fascinating. Technology truly helps humans in interesting ways, hmmm. The women will be interested to hear that. Oh, and for Helena, remember, the more you share with others, the harder it will be for me to keep the situation under control.”

“Fuck you.”

Seth seemed really hurt. Like she’d slapped him.

“Uuugh sorry this is a lot all at once,” she allowed.

“I am partly to blame. You regard her as your sister. I was being oblivious and tactless.”

Nestra frowned. The demon term for sister among the host family was different from the one in the demon family. The distinction felt important.

“So our father played doppleganger to, basically rape my mom and now he sends you twenty fucking years after the fact to keep an eye on me?”

Seth had the grace to look embarrassed. His answer made it even worse.

“He… wasn’t the one to send me. Demon tradition is to wait for the child to reach maturity to seek them out. Your situation was strange enough for one of the covens to ask me to go. This world is very peculiar. Your mana is still weak. Your technology is mighty. Cooking robots! It also means that your host kin have too many ways to track you down while other species would allow demons to thrive simply because they cannot keep track so easily.”

Nestra didn’t react to confirmation that not only did other worlds really absolutely exist, but the intelligent portal monsters were really drawn from several sentient races. It was the most likely explanation, of course, but it was still amazing to get a confirmation. That wasn’t what she wanted to hear about right now though.

“So our father didn’t send you.”

“No. He is…”

He seemed embarrassed.

“I should not criticize my clan but… he is a callous man spreading his seed far and wide in the hope of gathering powerful offspring. I know it comes as a shock to your culture… and possibly many others as well.”

“He’s a fucking asshole yeah.”

“Unfortunately, no one would find his behavior reprehensible back home. Only… wasteful and cruel.”

“The more I hear about your society and the less I’m interested.”

“But that’s the good thing, see! Every new species that joins the People enriches us! You could change our society for the better!”

“I want nothing to do with you,” Nestra told the crestfallen Seth.

Looking at the monstrously powerful demon wither under her glare gave her whiplash. She had to stop letting her emotions take over.

“I am making a mess of things,” he lamented after a few moments.

“Ok, so you’ve been looking after me then?”

“Yes! I put a compulsion on Gorge and his sons just to be sure though they were already loyal. I also made sure Shinran fought me so every inquiry about something bearing the resemblance of one of us would be intercepted by him. I also cleaned up the bodies of those gleams you killed earlier, by the way.”

“Nice. And the gifts?”

“The coven was pleased with your adoption of the Scornful Crescent. Humans are adaptive and they learn very fast, but some were concerned the species was too… individually weak. You have proven them wrong so far.”

“And the Kero nuts?”

“Hmmm.”

“You ate my Kero nuts. Does Stib know you’re a demon?”

“No. But we are not having children yet! We are only at the love-making phase of courtship!” Seth said, very proud of himself.

He gave her exaggerated thumbs up. Nestra facepalmed.

“Seth. Seth Seth Seth. You’re also an asshole. It’s deception from people I’m supposed to be kin with I hate. Do you realize you’re doing to her what…”

She was about to say: what their father had done to her mom but that would be a lie. Her demon… actually not a father. A genetic material provider and a sexual abuser on the same level as Zeus.

“I… but I don’t know how to tell her.”

“Either you come clean with her or you break up.”

“Nezhra…”

Nestra crossed her arms. She wouldn’t bulge.

“... Can you help me… break the news with her then? I like Siobhan Stibbons very much. I wouldn’t mind, you know…”

He shuffled on his large legs. It would be comical if he were not at least evenly matched with Shinran.

“What?”

“Make a family. Some of us stay with their partners for a lifetime. It’s considered… very challenging to do. And… a little kinky.”

“You are such a bunch of weirdos.”

“You are one of us, Nezhra.”

“Fine. I’ll help, promise. Ok. Well. I have more questions. First, I assume I was supposed to fit in as… an immature demon. Right? Like a cuckoo?”

“Yes! Well, yes, but we don’t kill other children!”

“Yeah only stop more from being born… Anyway. Why don’t I have a core? Isn’t that expected? I even have a core as a demon.”

“Ah! Yes. Well. I did talk to the coven’s envoy about it. You’re not going to be happy.”

“I’m not fucking happy.”

“Oh yes. It was very difficult for you. Ah, you see, the ambient mana on earth wasn’t enough to sustain your life.”

“What?”

“It has increased since then but… still not enough.”

“I was doomed to starve? And your genitor didn’t see it fit to, I don’t know, ANTICIPATE THAT?”

“He is…”

Seth looked down, dejected again.

“A very callous man,” he finished.

“I’ll fucking kill him.”

“Not happening for two millennia, at least.”

“I’ll be patient and very vindictive. Ok. So. Why no core?”

“You had the decoy one. Your body cannibalized it to survive.”

“WHAT?”

“It’s… gone. Sorry.”

Nestra slammed the table. Seth winced and grew more stooped. He shook his head from side to side in a weird, distressing move.

“Motherfucker.”

“I am sorry, Nestra.”

“DO YOU HAVE ANY FUCKING IDEA?”

Once again, Seth deflated. Guilt filled Nestra mid scream. She was wailing on the messenger here. He had nothing to do with it.

“Ok. I will stop screaming at you since you apparently were only just sent here by a coven, whatever it is—”

“A group of women of the People.”

“Yeah. That. But seriously, Seth! Wait, is that even your real name?”

“Sereth is my real first name! Seth is a cute nickname! Do you like it?” he asked, excited again.

He was kind of tiring to deal with.

“Yes. Seth. Very nice, now I appreciate you… trying your best… to keep me happy.”

“There are rules I have to follow, sorry. Or I would do more. I cannot hamper your growth by pampering you.”

“Ok, sure. But you’d better believe that from what I’ve seen so far, I intensely regret being born as one of you.”

Seth sat on the ground with a piteous groan.

“This isn’t going like I thought it would be going.”

“You got balls eating my Kero nuts…”

“I’m sorry! I was too stressed!”

“...And eating half of my shrimp...”

“I have to tax you if you use me as a beast of burden. Those are the rules!”

“YOU OWE ME, SETH!”

“Yes yes sorry. I shall provide more good food as an apology.”

“No,” Nestra said.

Seth stared at her, mouth wide open.

“No?”

“Well, yes, maybe, if you want, I’ll get my own anyway stop interrupting me. What I want from you is…. sparring.”

“What?”

“Sparring. You teach me how to fight like a member of the People.”

She crossed her arms while he seriously considered her options, then she dug into the ramen because being so angry took a lot of energy. She was half done with the skewers by the time he came to a conclusion.

“It would not break any rule I can think of since it wouldn’t be considered pampering. However, I have to tell you that normally, we learn how to fight from our host species. Mostly via hunts.”

“Are you familiar with the term ‘murder investigation’?”

“No! Well, yes, but you miss the point. There are plenty of legal ways for you to attack host kin.”

“There would be if I were a fucking gleam, yeah?”

But in fact, she had a way. Maybe. In fact, Gorge had mentioned it. She could always become a masked gleam. All she had to do was use that and a full body suit while out in public. No one would suspect unless she talked too much.

“That is acceptable since I can teach you how to form a physical core anyway. I will prepare for sparring since otherwise I might hit you a little too hard.”

“That would be painful.”

“Briefly, yes. Very well. Oh! This is human bonding but between us! Ooooh I love this culture so much.”

“Ah yeah, so, you grew up in another civilization? On another world? How does that work?”

Seth shrugged, the movement exaggerated. He moved his head a little bit afterward.

“Just like that? I was raised with the other small ones?”

“So what was that civilization like? What are they called?”

“I will not tell you until you break through! Twice. Else you might let out information you shouldn’t know.”

“Do the, ah, head movements mean anything?”

“Ah! I’m doing it again. It just means I am excited. Sorry, the mannerism is meant to be hidden in adults of… my host kin but I have spent too much time away from them, and without a suitable mask on, I find it difficult to remember how to behave.”

“Great. I am excited as well.  I… actually think I’d like to spend more time with you.”

“Yes yes yes! Okay! We’ll begin in a few days though. You need to rest. I have pushed you far enough.”

“Oh, is this what you said you were preparing me for? The Kaiju?”

“Yes. I saw the humans tampering with telluric veins with such recklessness, I knew it was only a matter of time before something attacked, and Shinran has been delving a lot since we faced each other so he wouldn’t help. Hahaha, he must be trying to kill me! I am glad I didn’t have to intervene to save you. Well done!”

“You kind of did.”

“Just to offset the effects of technology in terms of information sharing. It is only fair. Hmmm, I wonder if I should steal some fiber optics and a satellite.”

“Just don’t do it while I’m watching my vids thank you.”

After that, the conversation continued while Nestra took her time polishing off every dish on the table. Seth wouldn’t budge on sharing more about the People, portals, or other species, claiming she had to progress to the third sphere first. He didn’t seem to be in a rush, though with the speed at which Nestra was progressing, it might only be a matter of months, not years. Seth was strange when he wasn’t wearing a mask. He seemed just so happy and excited to have her around, so much that after she was done, he briefly showed her his collection of cooking tools. She was barely awake by then so he helped her through yet another portal world before dropping her home directly into her garage. She managed to drag herself upstairs before checking her message which were on her visor, miraculously intact since she’d worn it on her human mask.

There were quite a few messages from Officer Kim.

“Shit.”

Too tired but… she replied, saying she’d just woken up and was wounded. Officer Kim surprisingly replied though it was around 4AM by then.

“We will talk more after you have rested. There is no urgency.”

So she knew.

Nestra felt sorry for the woman but she was far too tired to do anything. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

***

Nestra woke up at twelve, following which she raided her own freezer and fridge like Attilla descending upon Rome. Her visor was choke full of messages and notifications, which she classified in order of how much hassle and emotional pain it would be to deal with. The first easiest call was to an unknown number since it was the only one that could possibly be urgent. Someone picked up after a single ring.

“Office of Doctor Mazingwe, hello.”

“Oh shit.”

“Miss Palladian, hello. The doctor was just finished.”

“I, errr, I can call la —”

“Miss Palladian,” the doctor’s smooth voice said.

It carried a certain tone she didn’t like very much.

“It occurs to me we had an appointment earlier this morning?”

“I was asleep. Exhausted. I literally just woke up.”

“Yes, it appears you have specific needs for sleep, more so than my usual patients. I will need you at my office at 4PM. You agree, of course?”

“I meaaaaaaan.”

“Miss Palladian, you need a medical certificate to justify your absence anyway. One that would require you to explain why someone who faced a horde of monsters did so without sustaining a single wound.”

“I’m sure I could come up with something.”

“Shame, and that was my last doughnut.”

“You know what? You’ve been very patient to me, Doctor Mazingwe.”

“Indeed.”

“4PM sharp unless I’m summoned somewhere.”

“If you are and the person is neither Shinran nor the mayor, do let me know as I would have choice words for them.”

Nestra mulled over the situation.

“Still can’t believe you’re Dawn Spear. Damn. You could be a leading figure in the Nairobi enclave if you wanted.”

“And that is why, Miss Palladian, I am here instead. I would really appreciate it if you kept that information private since there is a rather sizable price on my head.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“4PM.”

“Yes. Goodbye.”

The next call was in house, so to speak. It came from District Fourteen’s precinct.

“Yes? This is Nestra Palladian.”

“Oh, thankfully you are alright. This is officer Gao from the Highway police. We found your car.”

She might have met this guy in the past, at a function or something, but she couldn’t place him. Threshold had a lot of cops and she tended to stay around the anglos.

“What’s left of it. You found the drone as well, right?”

“Absolutely. The attorney has been very interested in the origin of the drone, especially considering your current posting. We were mostly concerned about finding you, until we had confirmation that you had been seen in Fifteen. You rushed there immediately after the incident?”

“Yeah I needed to find my partner.”

“And… did you?”

“I did but he didn’t make it.”

There was silence for a few moments.

“Damn, sorry to hear that. We knew it got bad but we didn’t know how bad. I’ll still need you to come here to make a statement, at least for insurance’s purposes. It’s not urgent though, so if you’re hurt.”

“A little. Mostly tired though. I’ll definitely come early next week, if that’s ok?”

“Sure, sure. Oh, we got your gear as well to come and pick up. Nice sword, by the way. Anyway it’s all in house so don’t worry, just, I have to ask, do you need protection?”

Nestra considered Seth.

“I’m good, I think. Unless they start bombing runs on my house. I’d still love to know what the fuck happened because I doubt it was an accident.”

“Yeah, us too. You take care now and call me when you’re ready.”

Ok, that was another easy call. At least she’d get her blade back. Would have been useful to have back when facing the horde but whatever. At least she’d gotten some good practice in. The next calls were easy. Stibs was worried so she talked to her and promised to catch up soon. Aunt Claire called as well, furious to have missed Nestra and assuming she’d been home safe. The Palladians had participated in the horde cleanup until the wee hours of the morning so Nestra took solace in the knowledge their evening had been ruined as well. Gorge had unexpectedly asked how she was holding on but the asshole just exchanged a few text messages with her stating he was glad his cash cow hadn’t bought it yet. The last call for the day was by far the most difficult.

Officer Kim picked up after three rings, more than expected. Her voice was raw.

“First thing first, are you safe, Miss Palladian?”

“Yes. I’m home. You, uh…”

“I am safe as well. I have been placed on sick leave for one day and ordered to rest. Guild Affairs have taken over the case considering the gravity of the situation, as you may imagine.”

All gleams, Nestra remembered. Assholes who trampled everyone they wanted but at least their hatred of the guild system, which they saw as a humiliation to the idea of a strong state, was well known. Gidung wouldn’t get off the hook.

“I… just needed to know how he died. He was very precious to me as you may have surmised and they didn’t let me see him. I have to know.”

“Yeah, ok. Yeah. You need closure.”

One of the reasons why raiders went to great lengths to retrieve bodies.

“So, our hab block’s shelter had no issues but one of the nearby blocks didn’t have one, so Shinoda led a small group towards our own since our shelter was big enough to accommodate both. They were attacked by the faster monsters. There were a lot of dokkaebi but…”

“But also D-class monsters, I assume,” Officer Kim said with a resigned tone.

“Yeah. I helped the group fend off mana rats so I think they mostly made it but Shinoda was in the rear guard. They took a lot of fatalities. I found him in a checkpoint. He was killed by a neosaur he managed to take out as well. He died clean and I think the body was retrieved. I was saved by Valerian. I collapsed from exhaustion a little later but I assume the body was properly recovered.”

Kim gave a shaky sigh. Nestra’s excellent hearing picked up a few sniffles. She gave the woman a few moments of peace, wondering exactly how well the two had known each other.

She also remembered the woman had sent Nestra to look after Shinoda and Nestra had failed. She didn’t feel particularly guilty about it. He’d gone off without backup in the name of his principles, a respectable act but also one she had no control over. Shinoda had died a warrior’s death, the best possible end if she had to be honest. It was probably a belief she shouldn’t share with other people.

“That was what I was told. At least I can be certain they were honest now,” Kim finally said.

“Yeah.”

“There is… one more thing. No, two things. First, there are talks of allocating more social services and less officers now that most of the surviving gangers have either been killed or captured at the end of the purge when they went to secured locations. You will make sure the transfer of authority is done properly, then I will reassign you to a task that would better use your frankly impressive skills, which leads me to my second point.”

“Ok?”

“You… are not what you seem, Palladian. I had an inkling after you killed those gangers under the hab block and last night’s events confirmed it. You do not have to deny anything. This is not a trap. I just want you to listen.”

“Ok…”

“I wasn’t sure so I ran a few simulations on a tactical AI, the results of which I kept for myself of course. According to what you did, that is, finding Shinoda alone in the middle of a horde, your chances of survival were a flat zero.”

“Hmm.”

“According to a timing I confirmed with tunnel camera footage, it should have taken Valerian almost five minutes to find you after you left the refugee group behind. You survived a horde alone, without visible weapons, and without implants. To be honest, there are no implants in the market that would have saved you.”

Nestra held her breath.

“I will not ask more right now. I just want you to know that…”

Nestra waited for Kim to finish her sentence. It took a while.

“That Mr Watkins is going to be transferred to Central tomorrow. Some details were shared with me concerning the risks such a move entailed. There is a… a specific part of District Twenty-eight that an unscrupulous individual could use to get a vantage point to the back of the precinct. Police users can stop a great many things. A supersonic round isn’t one of them.”

“You think someone would try to assassinate him?”

“If an unscrupulous individual had the will, access to dangerous weaponry, and some inside information, a tactical AI would confirm this is the best place to do so. I would be very, very disappointed if our star witness disappeared before we nail his ass to the wall and Gidung with him.”

“Alright,” Nestra said. “And hypothetically, when would that be?”

“Tomorrow morning, 5AM. The Levant Project towers, which have not been finished due to financing concerns.”

“Ok.”

“And Palladian? One last thing.”

“Yes?”

“Shinoda’s funerals will be tomorrow. I took the liberty of organizing it since his estranged wife would make a political mess of it. Can I count on you coming?”

“You could not possibly stop me.”

“Very well. Thank you and… we can talk more there. About the future.”

“Sure. I’ll see you there then.”

That was probably ok. Kim was a work friend but not a real friend yet. Surely. Nestra jumped into the shower in demon form and let the warm water cleanse her. All her wounds were closed but they still felt tender to the touch. She hoped Mazingwe wouldn’t poke her. He clearly intended to make sure her demon self was healthy which was going to be a tall order without a baseline but that would never discourage the stubborn man.

Weird how her timetable was suddenly so busy. Well, there was some grieving and a lot of mopping up to do but it seemed her adventures in District Fifteen would be over only a week after starting. It had been a busy time. For now, her new goals were clear but she also wondered what the future would have in store for her. She hoped it would be edible.

Part 19

“I told you, electronic equipment won’t work. Can I go now?”

Nestra glared at Doctor Mazingwe. Down, for once, since she was using her true form. The doctor tilted his head in a way that made her feel distinctly uncomfortable, because he was like a teacher and she was a petulant teen trying to get away from the physical exam.

“Miss Palladian, do you perhaps believe I am clueless without electronics? Hmm?”

“No, of course not,” she mumbled.

“Then I believe we can proceed the old-fashioned way. I assure you, humans have managed their health for centuries without advanced machines and I will draw upon their experience. Now, if you will follow me?”

“Oh, back in your days? Do you think an excess amount of humor in my spleen might cause me to be sad?”

“I know you are trying to get a raise out of me because you are concerned, Miss Palladian, however I assure you that I have handled worse than you over the ages and I will qualify your banter as ‘average’.”

“Oof. Who had the best banter?”

“Surely you do not expect me to provide you with ammunition. Here.”

They had moved into the gleam testing area. The good doctor’s innovative new tool that would beat X-ray and other pedestrian devices happened to be a table.

A table, and two chairs.

“What?”

“My testing equipment is designed for young men and women on the edge of D-rank, and since you are clearly much stronger than that, we shall assess your physical prowess with a basic yet nonetheless indicative test.”

“Beat each other over the head with the chairs?”

“No, Miss Palladian. We are going to arm-wrestle.”

***

“Oooow.”

“Do not be silly; I stopped long before breaking anything. Now, where were we? Oh yes. We shall now test your reflexes and general speed.”

The doctor opened a drawer, removing throwing knives from a sheath. They were clearly blunted.

“No.”

“If you will take position in front of this reinforced wall?”

“NO! Do you seriously use that on kids?”

“Of course not. I have them throw the weapons. Again, however, I fear it will not be a good indication of your capabilities.”

Nestra wondered if she could get away with walking through the wall. Unfortunately, Mazingwe was already stronger than Claire thirty years ago according to some footage she’d found, and though battle instincts could grow unused, a gleam’s body never weakened.

Bastard would probably burst through the entire building then drag her back in, screaming.

“Oh fiiiine.”

Mazingwe shifted. Nestra used momentum to move to the side, because she knew the old bastard would try something. The first dull knife clanged against the reinforced wall before falling down. Nestra dodged again fully expecting the good doctor to follow up, and of course he did. Something slapped painfully on the skin of her left arm. She changed direction. A glimpse at her attackers showed that he was looking at her right leg, so she pulled it to the side just in time to avoid another painful throw. No time to dodge the next so she received it on her forearm with Immovable. Mazingwe blurred. She used Momentum again.

Three knives were now lodged in the reinforced wall. Planted it, as it were.

Mazingwe’s hands were empty.

Nestra still didn’t let her guard down. She’d counted seven knives but who knew what he would pull off to test her.

“Hmm. Impressive. I have fought slower experienced C-ranks. Your battle instincts are also remarkable. How is the arm?”

She flexed it. The knife had only grazed it.

“Already healed.”

“No hematoma? Is regeneration one of your skills?”

“Think so.”

“Very impressive. If you do represent the baseline for gray demons, then your race is dauntingly powerful. I notice that you used some activated skills during the exercise? Do you know how many you can do in a row? Are they tiring you?”

“I, errr. They’re not very tiring. I always finish fights before I run out of juice.”

“But do they affect your mana, your physical endurance, or some other metaphysical source unique to your species? Mental exhaustion? Or several resources at the same time?”

“I, errr, dunno.”

Mazingwe seemed utterly unimpressed.

“Miss Palladian…”

She groaned.

“While I admit that your base abilities are very impressive, especially your natural resistance which we humans lack, you have so far mostly faced D-class threats. C-class threats are significantly more dangerous and will require you to know yourself and the full extent of your abilities. We will be testing those abilities over the course of the next few weeks until you are performing to my satisfaction. You cannot do any less than the maximum to survive.”

“Those are no longer doctor duties,” Nestra replied. “Are you sure you’re supposed to be my coach as well?”

She thought about her words. Was she sounding a little ungrateful?

“Not that I’m complaining, quite the contrary. I just—”

“My stone town was destroyed during the incursion. We lived along the shore of Tanzania, above the Indian Ocean. I was one of the only survivors.”

Nestra shut up immediately. First gens NEVER talked about the incursion. At least not to little shits like her. When her parents had done it, it was behind closed doors with sifters of mana liquor and hostile glares should she dare to break the sanctity of the moment by intruding.

“I could not return. When I became Dawn Spear, the crafter who made my armor asked me if I wanted to wear it with a kanzu. A kanzu is… a robe. A cream or white robe I would wear under a jacket. I found that I could not. I could not see elements of my past and not remember the screams. The fires. I have come here with no roots.”

He shrugged.

“No roots, but a past. We cannot let go of the past, yes? Now I have decided that I would help people before the portals claim me again. It will happen. It always does. We can never fully stop. And now, I am helping you. Do you deserve it? No. You are a headstrong, obnoxious, rebellious woman with a sharp tongue and a sharper sword.”

“Oh.”

“You remind me very much of my little sister.”

“Oh…”

“I am helping many people. I am helping you more because you need the help more, and also because you remind me of my little sister. Do you understand?”

“I… think so?”

“Now that you no longer have to divine why on earth I would try to keep your sorry hide mostly intact, will you stop questioning and challenging everything I try to do that would favor you?”

“Sorry, it’s just…”

She hesitated. He waited patiently.

“I feel like I’ve been kicked in the teeth by life many times, so now if something goes well I expect that it will come back to roundhouse me some time later.”

“I appreciate the difficulty of trusting people, Miss Palladian. However, according to my understanding, I have not been the only person who has been here for you consistently over the years. There is your aunt?”

“Oh yeah.”

“So perhaps you should trust the people around you a little more.”

“There’s also my brother.”

“Ah, yes, that.”

“And my dad. And my mom. And Bard, you remember Bard?”

“This detail had escaped my mind.”

“Well it didn’t escape mine. By the way, are you familiar with the decisions of Gidung’s leadership?”

“I stand corrected, Miss Palladian. You have driven the point home. I would still appreciate you extending me the courtesy of trust.”

He waited for her answer. A part of her wanted to jab more, maybe out of habit or maybe because Mazingwe was a father figure and she was the poster child for daddy issues. Double daddy issues, even. Mazingwe didn’t deserve it.

“Ok. I’ll stop giving you shit. I promise.”

“Marvelous.”

“So what do we do now?”

“We shall test your mana sensitivity in terms of direction, intensity, and nature. The other abilities will require tests that I cannot conduct in this facility.”

“How will you test my sensitivity? You mean like feeling mana?”

“Yes. You will close your eyes and I…”

Golden mana emerged from the doctor’s delicate fingers. Power radiated from them in an instant, brushing against Nestra’s skin with the promise of searing pain.

“I will be moving this sphere around you.”

“You won’t hit me with it. Right?”

“I am confident you will feel its presence before it occurs.”

Nestra was starting to wonder if the good doctor wasn’t having a little bit of cathartic fun at her expense.

***

“Hello, this is Ddoctor Mazingwe.”

The voice that answered was usually harmless. It made the cold hiss now filtering through the visor that much more threatening.

“I only gave you my number for dire emergencies. You must be very foolish or have a very good reason to contact me now.”

“I need some information on Gray Demon anatomy if I am to monitor the health of my patient.”

“Foolish, then. Gray Demons do not require physicians, Mazingwe.”

“You are never hurt? You always know exactly what you are capable of? I find it hard to believe given your proclivities. I need to know more so I can treat her if she gets hurt.”

“I can help her, unless she regenerates first. We are rather resilient.”

“Are you a medical practitioner?”

There was annoyed silence at the end of the line.

“I shall take this as a no. Listen, I have a proposal. You tell me enough to help her under an oath of secrecy, and in return, I will give you the recipe to my homemade doughnuts.”

There was a long pause.

“I do enjoy the human rituals around the preparation and consumption of food, but make no mistakes. I am here for the new woman of the People, not for the cultural experience of being a human. You already have information on our anatomy I am tempted to… erase. I will be forced to take drastic measures if you keep digging.”

“I swear on my ancestors that this knowledge will only be used to safeguard her wellbeing. I take my duty very, very seriously.”

Another pause, then a chuckle. It was not a pleasant sound.

“You believe in your own words. Very well, but if the coven protecting her decides that you need to be removed…”

“I already know enough to be a danger. A little more will make no difference.”

“I admire your commitment. I shall accept your oath and extend my trust. Recipe and one demonstration,” Seth replied.

“We have a deal.”

“The coven will love to hear that a human healer has taken a female Changeling under his wing, knowing what she is. Perhaps it is true that humans can pack bond with almost anything. You are making your own species quite interesting, Doctor Mazingwe.”

“I hope that is a good thing.”

“Oh, most certainly. After all, some may care about good and evil but for us, it is about fun and tedious, and you are beginning to be quite fun. Goodbye. We will be baking at my place. Bring your own supplies.”

***

Dawn crested the kaiju wall. For those who’d barely slept, it offered no solace. The rays of the sun revealed cables snaking out of the van when there should be none. They dispelled the illusion of secrecy that comforted operatives everywhere. They reminded said operatives that they were late, that the delivery robots were dropping fresh muffins on the doorsteps of harried corpo slaves, and that the time of reckoning was upon them. Mostly they showed the contents of floor sixty-eight of the unfinished Pacific Dream tower, part of the Levant Project real estate disaster. It should have contained, to the exclusion of most other things, a 120mm single shot remote controlled-rifle. A walker killer as they were known in the military. Around that weapon, there should have been satchel charges designed to turn the entire floor into a pile of molten slag and powdered concrete.

That was not the case. The last intact camera showed a mess of exposed cables and the barrel lying on the ground, possibly still connected to the rest of the gun. Or perhaps not.

The team leader ignored the sweat pearling in his brow. Every assessment said this should be impossible. Cameras didn’t glitch that way. This was either the work of a gleam, or a hostile jamming device not yet in the Gidung database.

His gut said it was a rogue element.

“We’re packing.”

“Wait,” the runner said, interrupting him.

The team leader looked into her crimson eye implants. The false iris rotated, probably calculating his heartbeat and blood pressure and all the other tools runners used to ‘convince’ people they were not allowed to kill. She licked her lips. His eyes caught a crease near her scalp where the dermal implants were barely visible.

“I can do it. I can make the shot. Manually.”

“Target on the move. ETA three minutes, sir,” Condor said from her seat in the far corner of the van. He could see the convoy holding Watkins making its way towards the precinct, with hovercrafts providing oversight. Their window was closing fast.

Condor’s voice had wavered. The team leader thought it was a lost cause and Condor didn’t seem so hot either.

“Sir. Please let me.”

The team leader assessed his chances.

Law enforcement would have already gone after the van. A rival corpo would have detonated the satchel charge since it was the easiest way to make the operation fail. And Gidung really needed a symbolic win. His career depended on it.

The stench of cigarette smoke and sweat joined forces with the wet heat and his own exhaustion to muddy his thoughts.

“I think it’s a trap.”

“Then let me trigger it. If it were the city, the place would already be swarming with cops. I can do it. Somebody’s fucking with us and I want to look them in the eye.”

“It smells of gleam to me.”

“And I can go toe to toe with a low C-class. Let me do it.”

“ETA two and a half.”

A feed showed the convoy carrying the witness on its way to Central. He would be out of range soon.  The team leader had to choose now.

“Ok. Ok but you evac the moment you get cornered.”

The runner gave a carnivorous smirk. She turned and the swish of her black ponytail brushed the man’s face. He hoped for a floral touch from shampoo, perhaps vanilla, his favorite, but the synthetic hair was soaked with tobacco. It offered no succor. Neither did the sight of her armored form leaving the false safety of the van. The floor rose a little higher when she walked off just from the sheer weight of synth muscles and plating and against anything without mana, he would bet on her. She was more machine than person at this stage.

He suspected that wasn’t the case here.

The runner allowed her feed in his own implant and he accepted the connection. The runner was fast. She was through the deserted underground garage in seconds, then carefully, she looked up the empty elevator shaft. The team leader saw little but gray, bare concrete around the holographic sight of the woman’s short submachine gun, though the lack of light was no obstacle. She clasped a rope ascender around the naked cable and then she was off and up along the vertiginous well, her aim never wavering. The team leader waited for a trap to spring but there was nothing, no falling grenades or massive impact tearing down the rope. The runner still stopped a few meters away, lightly jumping to the nearby wall where her gloved fingers somehow adhered with enough strength to keep her attached. The entire endeavor had been perfectly silent.

She scaled the wall.

“ETA two.”

The team leader knew he should have brought a spare anti-walker rifle but those things were massive and there had been no time. He could only watch the runner deploy small drones to watch the room above her. To his surprise, they flew unimpeded.

The room was empty. It looked empty. Faster than the man could process, the cameras cycled through thermal, X-rays, infras, and then the woman was up and walking. He allowed himself to take in the devastation.

Someone, or something, had gone off on the rifle and its surrounding. Only the naked concrete pillars surrounding the remnants were still intact. Satchels lay haphazardly, some torn apart, some throw off at a greater distance. The rifle was a loss. Its barrel was still mostly intact but the stock was twisted out of shape, the supporting frame looked crumpled, and the connected machine smashed. It felt more like the result of a tantrum than a deliberate attempt at neutralizing equipment. A chill crawled up his spine.

“Gear’s destroyed. Fall back.”

The runner paused but she didn’t listen. The team leader remained silent while she slowly, slowly took a step back. Inside of the empty space, only the howling wind came to break the silence.

Light from the rising sun crested the angle made by the floor, stretching the runner’s shadow towards the elevator shaft. She twitched.

It happened very fast.

Something clanged. The runner turned so fast it gave the man vertigo. A silent round blew something off, which exploded outwards towards the gaping great empty of District Twenty-Eight. She turned just as fast and then, the image twisted. Chaos melded pixels into each other in a pulsating, disturbing kaleidoscope of dark motes. Psychedelic mouths and claws assailed the cameras from every angle to the point that the man recoiled. The runner’s gun went off. A shower of debris rained down, merging with the phantasmagoria in a nauseating riot but the man was no longer watching. His gaze was glued to the display showing her vitals.

Catastrophic damage to the chest.

There was something holding her gun in place.

Catastrophic damage to the neck. Signal lost. Agent considered deceased.

The feed showed the camera falling on the ground. It landed her, and for the briefest of moments, the team leader saw it reflected in the glassy mirror of some broken casing. A foot. Naked. Strangely gray. Then it, too, was eaten by the glitchy nightmare.

“We pull the plug. Go,” the man said.

Every cable disconnected at the same time. The van hurled itself across the garage and towards the exit. As it surfaced into the light of dawn, the team leader expected something to stop them. Surely, it would. After all of that. Instead, they continued unimpeded to the outer middle ring and beyond.

In the distance, Watkins’ convoy continued on its merry way, unaware of the danger it had escaped. It went to Central to seal Gidung’s fall from grace and gleams watched it pass with curious eyes. It was not every day one could see a titan stumble.

***

“Tell me,” the tall man said.

He did not turn to look at the team leader. White hair combed back over a white Hanbok, a traditional Korean garb. Tall shoulders. Gidung’s founder was a man of short stature but he had this solidity earth users had, the one reflected in the name he had chose. Gidung. The pillar. Even now the corporation cracked at the seams, but the man didn’t. His gaze was fixed on a small altar nestled in the corner of his presidential office. It showed a faded picture of a young woman smiling over the distant Busan Harbor.

“Someone came after us. They knew we would be here. Some shadow user. It felt… personal.”

“I wonder who we might have offended to face such a reckoning.”

That was not a comment that invited reply, and so the team leader didn’t offer one.

“This ends now. The crisis management team will stand down.”

“Sir, if I may…”

“You were let go as a courtesy,” the founder said.

He turned, and the team leader saw a weathered face, marked by adversity. Deep brown eyes met his. They were not unkind.

“When courtesy is not repaid with respect, terrible events follow. That is particularly the case when we have not identified our opponent. We will just blame fate as we brave the storm. Gidung weathered many and it will weather more.”

“Yes sir, I just…”

“Wish to know whose terrible gaze fell upon us?”

“Yes sir.”

“So do I.”

***

The harbinger of fate bit into a chestnut cream pie.

“Hmm! Thish ish good!”

No calorie impact on her mortal shell plus nepo power on the owner plus on a break meant that she was ravaging the Sunflour’s inventory with gusto. Four small plates were already piled on her table, forming a monument to hubris, a Babel tower of sugar and an affront to God. Nobody seemed to care but it made her feel positively sinful. An article on her datasheet spiced the pastries up with the sweet aroma of vindication.

“Gidung market cap in free fall. Emergency Board meeting in progress.”

Hurting where it mattered: wallet and reputation. Nestra turned her attention to Seth, somewhat hoping that gorging on his stuff might annoy him with the ‘family discount’. Unfortunately, the goof was beaming with pride at the counter. He pointed at a verrine filled with white chocolate mousse and passion fruit puree, possibly his next offering.

It was really hard to piss off Seth for some reason. It was like he had no real ego. All her teasing were universally taken as gestures of attention. And he loved attention. From her. Maybe from Stibs as well, though the way he talked about her, he saw her in, well, a different way then what she thought was normal for partners. From her limited experience.

Her visor beeped, and she moved her shoulder carefully. The runner woman had clipped her shoulder and the wound on her real form still pained her. There were still non-gleams who could hurt her, not just that, but the woman couldn’t actually even see her and she still managed one clean hit. It was inspiring, in a way. Gleams would continue to increase in numbers, but perhaps technology would be integrated instead of discarded. It was just too damn potent.

With one last sigh, Nestra gave up on her thoughts of chocolate mousse. She nodded to Seth on her way out into the stifling heat of summer. The weather was just nice and there was something there that bothered her.

It should be raining, because today was Shinoda Yuuji’s burial, but of course that sort of serendipitous crying from the heavens happened only in movies. The world didn’t give a shit that Shinoda was dead, and neither did most of Threshold. That pissed her off, even though her grief was light since, well, they had not known each other for that long. It was just that Shinoda was one of the good ones, and he’d died a hero, and, just, there should be something, anything, to acknowledge that. But instead, mundane birds flew around to pick up insects.

Her partnership with Shinoda had lasted only two weeks but now, it was time to say goodbye. She readjusted her black suit then made her way out to the nearby elevated tram station since her car was totaled. It was mostly empty at this time of the day. Only a couple of students and older folks with grocery bags sat around, casting her curious glances since she was dressed to the nines in a morbid kind of way.

Outside, the cozy houses and low buildings of her district gave way to brick buildings, then to a park as the tram slowly made its way along the kaiju wall. The wind carried the distant scent of the Pacific Ocean when Nestra climbed off, not too far east. The park was open and wide with low, carefully cut grass. The few people leaving with her did so in a subdued mood and the usual flock of children was missing. Around her, tall columns dotted the ground in miniature stonehenges with people gathering in loose clumps of dark-colored garbs. Nestra made her way to the one Kim had referred to, close to a pond surrounded by zen sculptures. The susurrus of flowing water calmed her nerves.

There were quite a few more people than she expected.

At first, she hesitated a little since those looked at her with curiosity. Even in Threshold, there was an invisible wall formed by a group of mourners when they were obviously of the same ethnic or cultural group — in this case Japanese. The sight of a diverse group of cops in the distance confirmed that she was in the right place. She made her way up towards the mausoleum. Her stress faded as the groups didn’t push her away and she finally spotted Kim atop some stairs.

If there was any doubt the two of them were closer than they let on, this dispelled it. Officer Kim wore a regal black kimono with her dark hair tied back with a white ribbon, a mark of respect to the deceased when she could have worn a hanbok though the ribbon was most likely a korean thing, from the vids she watched. Nestra wasn’t exactly sure about the etiquette here, but the rest of the mourners seemed to approve since no one was being hostile. Not like Nestra could do anything but learn from the diplomatic civil servant. More importantly, Kim carried the urn containing Shinoda’s ashes. Cremation was compulsory for anyone buried within the walls of the city but the role of carrying them to the mausoleum usually fell with the widow if there was one. Kim stood above the crowd as if daring them to challenge her. Shinoda’s ex-wife was conspicuously absent.

She started the ceremony at 3PM sharp. By that time, the heat had turned slightly uncomfortable. Nestra only half-followed the proceedings. There was a Shinto priest, a very old gleam who looked at everyone with quiet benevolence. Nestra voided his gaze just because she was feeling pissy. Then came quite a few people saying how Shinoda had saved them, somehow.

Each story was short but it was clear he’d mattered.

Maybe that was better than rain.

It felt strange, getting to know someone better after they were dead. She would have liked to meet him in an izakaya for more beer and food if he’d lasted long enough, but he’d gone the way he’d lived, touching and saving more lives than was wise to. In a way, he had more hubris than she did but while hers was a thing she reined in, Shinoda had embraced it. And then, he’d fought to the end. And he’d died. With his finger on the trigger.

The ceremony didn’t last for a very long time. More than a lack of things to say, Nestra felt it was the distance between the mourners that was to blame for the reserved silence. Shinoda had helped without reserve but his benefactors didn’t actually know one another. The various groups eyed their counterparts warily from an angle when they thought no one was looking. Nestra watched all of this from afar and wondered if they were jealous that someone else had been saved and made feel so special. Eventually, she watched Kim finally place the urn in an empty box of the mausoleum, then the place was sealed and the massive dark slab returned to being a monolith to the dead of the threshold city.

The mourners solemnly made their way to pay their respect. Many spoke to the shaman who offered words of comfort. Nestra and he exchanged a glance and he moved away, apparently accepting that she wasn’t interested in talking.

The afternoon went on. Clouds gathered to provide some welcome shade. The wind picked up until the weather cooled to more pleasant temperatures. The mourners trickled away but Nestra waited, leaning against one of the slabs. She wasn’t in a hurry.

Kim only sobbed when she thought she was alone.

Nestra stood by and waited. There was really no need to interrupt. And also no need to get physical. Kim really didn’t give off any huggable vibes and Nestra had been tempted to jump on Sashimi just to feel what it would be like.

It was remarkable that she was the first to feel the intruder come. Nestra could tell from the straightening shoulders and the discreet application of tissue to her face, then she looked out herself and saw a woman approaching, a Japanese one in an impeccable suit. Handsome in a mature way. While Kim’s ‘touch ups’ had turned her into a distant and efficient worker, this one exuded majesty. She meant to impress. An aug bodyguard strode after her though not too close. He wasn’t enjoying himself. The ground was too open, maybe.

The woman addressed Kim in English. She had to know Kim’s Japanese was perfect but she did it anyway.

“How come I learn about my husband’s death from social media?”

She spat the last two words. A few late visitors turned her way. Nestra put on her visor and started to film just in case.

Kim replied with all the dignity of the bereaved. Nestra didn’t need a translator to guess Kim reminded the late comer she was the ex-wife. She did so in Japanese, again, a power move. The two women talked in a glacial tone. At some point, the bodyguard took a step forward and that was all the signal Nestra needed. She stepped up next to Kim, drawing the gaze of the two.

“I hope there isn’t gonna be a problem,” she said with a tight smile.

The bodyguard flexed his muscle under a too tight suit. They bulged, but Nestra could tell from the wandering gaze that he had concerns.

Her time to flex, she guessed. With a ‘tut tut’, she clasped her badge to her breast pocket. Now if the guy put a hand on her, that was two years in prison and his license revoked.

He reconsidered.

There was a certain hypocrisy in pulling ranks when she despised the gleams for doing the same. The difference was that she was not being an asshole. At least, in her own eyes.

“This does not concern you,” the ex-wife finally told her.

“Oh, but it does. I was Shinoda’s partner and you are making a scene. At a funeral, no less.”

Nestra tapped her visor to indicate the woman was being recorded. If she was still a career politician, as Shinoda had mentioned, then this would not show her in a good light. The woman sneered at Kim one last time.

“Mada owatta wake de wa arimasen. This is not over yet.”

They left, the woman striding with all the fury hell does not have and the bodyguard trudging after her. Kim remained unmoving as a statue for a long time, Nestra waiting by her side.

“Thank you, Palladian. You have made a difficult moment bearable.”

“You seem to have it handled. I was merely providing support.”

“I was ten seconds away from slapping the bitch.”

“Oh.”

They waited some more. In the distance, someone played the flute. It wasn’t very good.

“We are done here,” Kim finally said. “For now. Let us walk. Since you are here, I wanted to go over a few things before I retire for the day. I do believe I will take a short break after that so we might as well finish first.”

The prim Officer picked up a small object from her kimono’s inner pocket. It was a tiny jammer. She wasn’t taking any chances.

The pair walked by the pond, then they made their way through an alley of tall sycamores. Kim appeared distracted. There was something about so much open ground that gave Nestra vertigo, made her feel unsafe rather than relaxed. Or perhaps it wasn’t open ground per se but her fragile, imperfect human form who couldn’t smell the enemy come and couldn’t trick sensors.

“First things first, we just received word from Gidung. They have decided to settle for the murder attempt on you by drone. They will give up the idiot responsible for the operation under charges of reckless endangerment and provide you with a comfortable compensation of one point two million credits if you accept.”

“Reckless endangerment? This was attempted assassination.”

“It is up to you to accept or refuse, of course, but my advice is to take the deal since Gidung will otherwise clam up and hide their idiot behind an army of lawyers. It would take years before you see money. This way, the culprit will spend three years behind bars at the Red House.”

Nestra thought about it.

“Did they say who it was?”

“They’re not cooperating until we sign. At least not on this.”

“And we know the will give up the right person… how?”

“Because we’ll have AIs go over their records, of course.”

If she accepted the deal she would have a name, and then kill the guy if she felt like it. Not to mention, she needed money for a new car. The insurance wasn’t covering more than a third of the price since the car itself had been pretty old.

“Yeah ok sure.”

“Good choice. I will also take the liberty of flagging that imbecile in our system to make his life miserable from now on. Can I drive you back?”

They had arrived near a parking lot.

“Uh. Sure.”

They climbed in a nice hovercraft, black. The inside was perfectly clean and smelled vaguely of lavender. It was devoid of any trinkets, not even a loose wrapper, but there were three ports for charging electronics.

Once the doors were closed, Kim leaned forward.

“By the way, a janitorial team found a body and a demolished sniper rifle in the Levant Project Tower. How fortuitous. The dead might have made an attempt on Mr Watkins’ life otherwise.”

“Serendipitous indeed.”

Kim assessed Nestra for a moment. The secret demon didn’t react. There were already too many people knowing about her. Let Kim wonder a bit.

“We may have a job for someone of your peculiar skill, outside of the walls. There is a… developing situation in one of the enclaves. It will have to come later, however. Your performance during the invasion has raised some questions. I have removed you from the active roster for the time being, and you will be replaced by peacekeepers trained specifically for the task. The end goal is to have District Fifteen law enforcement done by its own residents. You should go say goodbye at some point.”

“I will.”

“I believe some paid leave would do you good since there is a possibility you will be… involved in our inquiries. How does that sound?”

“Pretty good. I wanted to spend a bit more time with my family anyway.”

“Is that so?” Kim asked with some doubt.

“I have some catching up to do.”

***

Helena had this guarded expression Nestra recognized in pictures of her around the same age. A bit hopeful, but mostly expecting some bullshit. The young gleam clutched her training gear with a nervousness that her face tried very hard not to express. It didn’t help that Nestra had brought her to a decrepit parking lot at the center of an abandoned hospital in the back of a rental van. If she wanted to give off psycho killer vibes, she couldn’t have possibly done better.

“So… we’re training here?” the young gleam asked with obvious disbelief.

“Yes, well, no. Around. But first we need to talk.”

Nestra stepped out. It took a while for Helena to join her on a bench overlooking an abandoned zen garden. The hospital extended in a square all around to form a vaguely oppressive prison.

Helena’s mana was leaking. It tasted familiar to Nestra’s dull senses but it also meant Helena was really, really nervous. Not good.

“Shit, I should have picked a better place.”

“Hmm damn right we should have. That’s like the set of some horror story where the stupid teens get picked off by a shadow monster, or something.”

“Yeah it’s my bad. It’s just, at least here we won’t be listened on.”

“By Riel Nestra have you, like, killed someone or something?”

Nestra blinked.

“Yeah but how does it relate?”

“Nestra! Killing people is bad! Oh shit you’re a cop. I always forget. You guys don’t really mind.”

“Damn it, Claire, get out of this body.”

“Hahaaaa! No but seriously what is this about?”

“Ok so, it’s a bit weird but it’s about me and… how it’s… Look, there is no good way to say this. You’re like that, with the weird attunement and the bursts of anger, because of me. It’s… not exactly my fault but it definitely happened because I existed and… I think you have a right to know. No, I believe you have a right to know.”

Helena immediately rolled her eyes.

“Oh my Riel Nestra not you too for fuck sake. I know the conversation by heart. I already got this shit from mom. Stop it. Stooooop it. You’re not helping, ok?”

“No, listen, I’m serious.”

“Yeah yeah I know the draft. ‘If only I have been here when you were a child’ and ‘I was too focused on my own boo boos’. Cut it. I want actions, not words. The sparring idea is good, though I really don’t see how this place is good for sparring…”

“There is a portal underneath. In the shelter.”

“There… Oh. Oooooh. Wait, you’re fucking crazy.”

“And it’s my responsibility because I was born first and you got void as an affinity because of it.”

“Riiiiight.”

Nestra bore her gaze into Helena’s amused, yet still worried black orbs. She had normal sclera but the iris and pupil really were like her own. It was uncanny.

“Because I’m not human.”

“Riiight. Right. Wait, shit, you’re serious?”

“Dead serious. I was born non human, and mom’s body was… affected. And you got the void affinity and the anger as a result. Also our dad is not my real dad. I mean, not genetically. Probably. Whatever.”

Helena’s mouth hung open.

“I can prove it but you got to promise not to freak out.”

“You… are not human?”

“No.”

“And…. who knows about this?”

“Exactly five people. Three who shouldn’t be, I had to help.”

“So, uh, ok? Are you going to… show me?”

“Yep. If that’s ok, I mean.”

“And you brought me here becaaaaause?”

“The portal. If you were, I mean if you took it well, I thought we could have a bonding moment.”

“And not because you wanted to kill me and get rid of the body if I threatened anything?”

Nestra paled. Horror filled her chest.

“Wha — what? No! No, of course not I would never! Helena!”

“Ok ok ok ok sorry I shouldn’t have. My bad.”

“I, shit I didn’t think it would worry you so much I’m so sorry!”

“I know thinking’s a bit hard for you but just listen to me! I’m fine, just show me non human Nestra!”

“Ok. Sure. Don’t freak out.”

“You have tentacles?”

“No.”

“Horns?”

“... yes.”

“That’s so wired! Come on, show me.”

Nestra sighed. It wasn’t going the way she’d expected. Helena was just so exuberant but… maybe that was better? She pulled off her mask. Immediately, the world became more. She could hear the birds nesting on the second floor cafeteria. Her nose picked the dust and the rot and the wild flowers growing through the cracks. The wind caressed her skin. Mana pulsated wildly from her little sister, familiar yet strange on a human. Said little sister was now standing but Nestra was still looking down at her in her best, most harmless impression of a meek demon.

“Wooooooow.”

“Yep, it’s me.”

“You’re so tall!”

“And ssstill growing.”

“And your voice is so low-pitched?”

“Also because I’m really tall.”

“Are those horns?”

“As I said, yesss.”

“Can I touch them?”

“No, please. Very sensitive.”

“ Holy shit what are you?”

“A Gray Demon.”

“Yeah I can see that but what is it called?”

“Hmm. Err. Gray Demon.”

“...”

“Unless you want the latin name but please don’t address me by my genus and clade?”

“That’s so wireeeeeeeed. How long have you been, you know, that?”

“Hm. From birth. But I only figured it out recently.”

“So is this why you have no core? Is that part of the disguise?”

“Hm. No. My body needed a lot more mana to grow so… it cannibalized the human core.”

“WHAT REALLY?”

“Yes.”

“You nommed your own core? That’s so wired! Can you, like, regrow it?”

“Don’t think so. My true form has a core anyway. It’s… serviceable.”

“Nice. And can you use mana and everything?”

“Yes, void, same as you. Or rather, you are the same as me.”

“Riiiiight! Can you tell me more about who your dad is then? Are there more like you? Oh, are you infiltrating human society to overthrow it and control the government? Wait, you’re not going to do that, right?”

“No.”

“Aw.”

“I can’t tell you more about what I am, partly because it endangers you and partly because, well, I know very little myself. But we are hunters, not manipulators. At least, I think so.”

“Wait, you can have human shapes and you’re not evil manipulators bent on world domination?”

“I can’t talk for other Gray Demons I assume exist but as far as I am concerned, I absolutely and very definitely couldn’t possibly be arsed.”

“Damn. You show up with super infiltration power in human society and you stay for fun?”

“And gastronomy.”

Helena huffed though a smile tugged at her lips.

“That’s some high mindset here. I like it. Actually, you just asked me to bring my axe expecting me to, like, be okay about all of this?”

“I was certainly hoping for it, yeah.”

“And we just go into the portal and kill stuff? Wait, that means you’re registered as a gleam then?”

“No, at least not yet and… this portal isn’t registered yet.”

“ILLEGAL RAIDING?”

“Yeah.”

“What about the loot?”

“Black market.”

“This is so damn wiiiiiiirred. WAIT A MINUTE YOU ARE A COP IS THIS A STING OPERATION?”

“Human Nestra is a cop. Demon Nestra…”

Nestra shrugged.

“She is one hungry girl. And Threshold’s gleams are not exactly tolerant of non-humans.”

“Yeah, I mean. Oh. You would be killed on sight. At least by the old guard.”

“Yep.”

“I am part of a secretive criminal conspiracy. Oooooh this is so wired. I wish I could tell someone, but I won’t. Oooh this is so damn wired. Can we go now? Can we go?”

“Get in your training armor. I’ll go grab my sword.”

“Yes. YES! We were only scheduled to raid shit portals at the end of the semester, and even then only under guard. You… you’ll cover my back, right?”

Nestra used momentum to step really close. Helena jumped back with a yelp.

“WAH!”

“I’m actually quite strong. This is a D-class portal. We’ll be fine.”

“Get that damn sword and let’s goooooooooooo!”

***

“Sooo what now?”

“Just like the textbooks say. You just need to push your hands into the portal after coating them with mana.”

“Like that? WHA—

***

Nestra drifted through the hospital portal into a forest. Leaves covered the ground in patterns she didn’t recognize. The trunks were smooth and striped like a zebra’s hide. They were also red. Above her, a bluish sun cast late afternoon rays that provided little heat while Helena finished collapsing from the entrance portal.

“—AHT. Oh. Huh, it was easier than I expected.”

“Might be the void element. Hss.”

They stood in a clearing. The ground rose and fell in tiny mounds and deep recesses and the air smelled of mud and rotten leaves, altogether not unpleasant at all. The distant din of battle surrounded them on all sides though Nestra wasn’t too concerned. It had a distant, fake quality she couldn’t quite place. It was more a setting than a reality. That told her what sort of portal this would be.

Helena stood up, She looked a little ridiculous in her training gear since it was so bulky, but it would definitely help. Her axe sucked since it was a dull weapon but she knew how to coat and it was all she needed with void mana. And it was still a large piece of metal swung by a gleam so… not exactly harmless. And Nestra was here.

“A portal world! I’m inside a portal world! What do we do now, explore?”

“No. Battle.”

“What?”

Nestra pointed. A short humanoid creature emerged from the treeline, clad in a gambeson with pieces of shiny metal strapped here and there. He looked surprisingly humanoid but his features were much more feral, his skin drawn, and the hair on top of his head was dark and thick like a horse’s mane. He growled when he saw them, then picked a mace hanging by his side and charged. A dozen warriors followed quickly after him. Only their hair color and weapon truly differed, though the first had by far the most protection.

“Battle,” Nestra said. “You take the leader.”

“YAAAAAAAH!”

Nestra had been worried her sister might hesitate but the girl was meeting her foe head on with her axe held high. It was weird watching her be so fearless. She really trusted Nestra.

Speaking of.

Nestra used momentum to move to the first of two archers, dispatching him with a single punch. They were D-class. She was almost a step above. She was also twice their size and monstrously stronger. There was no context and yet, when his skull crumpled, she still felt her mind grow slightly faster.

She took out the next archer in the same breath. Helena made contact with the squad leader. She didn’t coat, but her strength was alone to push him back. Her follow up was slightly too slow to land a solid blow, Nestra judged. The demon rushed to a spear wielder trying to flank Helena. A kick crushed his spine. She slew a sword fighter with a void blade an instant later.

The barrier between worlds shivered. Nestra tensed, knowing what it meant. She grabbed a shield bearer before crushing his vertebrae. Helena fell back when another spear fighter threatened her flank. Solid battle instinct. Not bad, but though the warriors were little danger…

Sashimi swam into this world.

“Sashimi if you touch a hair off her head, I swear to… to…”

But the shark just hovered above them. Their dark gaze met Nestra’s own and in them, she felt a sort of baffled condescension, along with a feeling words could only express one way.

Cub.

That was it. Sashimi would not attack Helena because Helena was a cub.

“You leave her alone but you attacked me? What?”

Nestra used momentum to appear in the middle of the surviving fighters before they could surround Helena. Her strikes were precise and, to be frank, there wasn’t much challenge here. It would be a little boring without Helena. Maybe she could fight without any mana at all? No, that was hubris talking. When Helena was here, Nestra would take no risks.

Rival.

Not cub.

“REALLY?”

Her sister did a nifty maneuver and managed to strike the enemy across the chest. It didn’t break through the armor there but the blow was enough to send the leader on his back. Before he could recover, Helena stepped forward to bring her axe down. The blade erupted with a dark corona. Her void was a wild thing, hard to control yet oh so destructive.

The blade cleaved through an arm, the chest, and the loam below. A little bit of blood sprayed the armor.

Helena stepped back. She pressed her hand to her torso, then found her fingers sticky with her victim’s fluids. She took a deep, shuddering breath.

“Wow. Feels different when they’re humanoid. Wait, what is that thing? A pet? You have a pet shark?”

“I wouldn’t call Sashimi a pet, per se.”

“Can I touch it?”

The traitorous shark bumped Helena with their snout. Then stole her victim’s severed arm before lazily floating away.

“It’s so glorious and buoyant!” Helena declared.

The damn emergency seafood banquet went for one of the dead spearmen.

Nestra was livid.

It was so unfair.

***

Part 20

Nestra watched while Helena engaged in the time-honored tradition of divesting the dead of their belongings. Sadly, this was a relatively benign D-class world and the pickings seemed slim indeed.

That was a first world problem, to be fair. Primitive societies would love to recover the high purity metal contained in the fallen warriors’ weapons and armor. In Threshold, they would be absolutely useless. The city mined its own minerals in special enclaves, recurring portals, and it recycled a lot as well. Nevertheless, Helena was consciously piling all the shinies in a single pile.

She finally hit something valuable.

“Gold!” she exclaimed.

The leader had a single, tiny bar of the precious metal engraved with a really stylistic depiction of a bird. Or maybe it was a really ugly leaf. Nestra couldn’t tell.

“Yes! Gold. It’s worth something, right?” Helena asked.

“Enchanters use it a lot, and gold found in portals often have some properties so… this is probably worth a couple hundred creds. The bar is just very small and the purity doesn’t seem very high. You can give it to me and I’ll sell it on the black market. Return the cash.”

“No, I want to keep it. This is my first portal world. I’m clearing it with you, my sister, the gray demon, and that’s the most wired thing ever. Yeah, I’ll keep it as a souvenir. First trophy yay! I won’t get in trouble, right?”

“Just hide it from mom and dad. You… can do that, right?”

“Yeah, obviously? They’re afraid to step into my room.”

“Yeah because it’s a disgusting pigsty.”

“I cleaned it! I cleaned it!”

“Did you discover new new species of fungus maybe? Name it after yourself?”

“Har har. Hmm so, what now? Is this a fae world?”

Nestra looked around, The distant sounds of battle were still present, though she wasn’t too worried. This was a rather common portal type.

“Looks like a faerie conflict world, yeah. It will feel like we’re at the edge of a battlefield. We’ll come across patrols and scouts, or rather, they’ll come across us.”

“Are they really faeries, you think?”

“Nope. I think the first raiders just picked the name because the fighters were short individuals with exaggerated traits. And also, super cruel.”

“Your low-pitched voice is kinda relaxing. Can you keep it in human form?”

“Focus, Helena!”

“Sorry sorry sorry.”

“Anyway, D-class worlds don’t have royals. Those are much, much stronger than their foot soldiers. You must still pay attention to their war beasts. And watch your footing.”

“So… we’re going?”

“Yep.”

“No battle formation?”

Nestra crossed her arms.

“What formation? This is a void raid. You stand alone. I am only covering your back because it is the first time.”

“Okay! What about… them?”

She pointed at the menacing shadow of the void shark swimming through the air above like a sleek missile of smug voracity. And also duplicity. And also food theft.

“Dunno. Sashimi is absolutely useless, in my experience.”

She frowned at the shark, just to make sure they got the intent. Perhaps they did since they flicked their tail in a way that felt very much like a ‘fuck you’.

“Ok! Rely on myself. Got it. But hmmm. if there are plenty of enemies just like last time…”

“I’ll help you if you don’t stand a chance.”

“Works for me! Riel, this is exciting. The teachers at school don’t really trust me that much because, you know, I always have to hold back. But here I’m free to go all out! Ok! Raid on.”

Helena stepped out carefully, and Nestra followed at a distance with Sashimi providing, errr, overshark. Nestra wasn’t sure what the hell the void creature was up to. Maybe just garbage disposal. It wasn’t competing with her for the portal guardian, this time.

Helena followed a small trail forward, barely more than a beast trail snaking its way between the zebra-striped trunks of the crimson forest. The uneven ground meant that sometimes, she lost sight of Helena behind a sharp incline but that was fine. The autumn air and the smell of fallen leaves made the trek pleasant, a contrast to the sounds of battle. Sometimes close, sometimes far, they were punctuated by great screams and the detonations of mighty spells. They still sounded off to Nestra. She almost expected to find tiny audio things cleverly hidden in trees but the sounds came from all around, probably directly generated at the edges of this temporary world. Whatever battle it emulated must have been massive and really, really bloody if the screams of the dying were any indication.

Nestra was the first to hear the two scouts shuffling in position. She approached, ready to help just in case as Helena progressed deeper into the forest. One of the scouts drew on a bow.

Helena couldn’t see him from where she was. She also couldn’t hear him with her low D-class ears, and yet, Nestra saw her react. As the arrow flew towards her head, Helena moved to the side and the projectile clanged uselessly against the training armor. Another shot pinged against a carefully angled pauldron. When the next arrow flew, Helena was already halfway up the slope with her axe in position. Nestra moved up to make sure she was close enough. She needn’t have worried. Helena caught up with the first scout with decent speed and cut through the bow and the creature in a single void-infused strike. The other scout shot her in the back but once again, Helena moved just in time for the armor to take the blow, instead of her knee. She closed the distance with the last scout in moments using her speed and superior size. The scout screeched as it unsheathed a dagger. It didn’t make any difference.

Helena was left standing over two gored corpses, unscathed.

She breathed hard and looked around, making sure she hadn’t missed anybody. Nestra felt a pang of pride at the sight of her sister doing well and taking things seriously. A smile bloomed on her lips. She let it.

“Well done. You have great battle instincts! You could even tell they were there.”

“I don’t know for battle instincts but I knew they were there because…”

Helena pointed up. Sashimi was circling its next meal.

“The shark took off and started hovering over there so I figured…”

“Wow. I actually didn’t notice that. You’re damn smart.”

“You didn’t notice the large floating shark?”

“I try to ignore Sashimi so I’m not tempted to chase it and bite it again. I currently hold a grudge.”

“Oh by the way, do you know if they’re a he or a she?”

“I, uh, I don’t know about void shark anatomy.”

“Is it like normal shark anatomy?”

“Define normal? Actually, nevermind I can ask someone I know.”

“Woooooh is it another Gray Demon?”

Curse her for being sharp.

“I can’t say. It’s confidential.”

“Oooh ok I won’t pry. So. Loot?”

“Yep. Your kill, your loot.”

“So you don’t object if I give the bodies to Sashimi?”

“Sashimi’s going to get fat.”

“But that would be so cute!”

Hmmm.

Nestra considered the question.

Could a fattened shark be even more delicious?

No harm in finding out.

***

Helena followed the void shark to two more patrols, then disposed of them with a merciless efficiency Nestra had never expected from her bubbly sister. They grow up so fast etc. Or maybe it was that teenagers tended to be psychopathic little assholes and this was just normal. In any case, the shark swept down to kill one of the scouts that had climbed up one of the trees, possibly because Helena had not brought ranged weaponry and the shark, somehow, recognized that. They didn’t find more gold but they did find obsidian shards and other trinkets that could be broken down and used in low-tier enchantments. It wasn’t too bad a haul.

“I’ll keep those as well. Truth is, I’m minoring in enchantments and I was thinking, maybe I can turn those into basic defensive tools. Like a bounce-back or something. Diversify a bit since void is not exactly versatile for me. Is that ok?”

“Yes, those are yours. You can do with them what you wish,” Nestra said,

It was obvious to her, to the point she felt weird about Helena asking. It was the girl’s hunt, her kills. It would be cruel and ridiculous of Nestra to tell the young hunter what to do with her first prizes.

Helena continued along the trail rather proud of herself and still vigilant if the careful walk was any indication. She didn’t seem to suffer from too much hubris, but there was a savagery in the way she fought that Nestra wasn’t sure was the normal human standard. Her technique was also more straightforward than Nestra’s. Much more direct. She relied on her strength and the dangerous coating much more, assuming the enemy would never ignore it and… it was correct. So far. It was still very different from Nestra’s own vicious disruptive technique.

Nestra paused when the trail passed by a strangely even patch of sand in the middle of a clearing. Contrary to the rest of the forest, the open ground had little vegetation. The sounds of battle were also dull around here.

Helena took a step forward, a little curious. Sashimi hovered above her.

Nothing happened. Helena took another careful step.

Something erupted from the center of the clearing. Nestra and Sashimi exploded into motion, Nestra grabbing Helena back while Sashimi dove, taking a bite out of a hurricane of claws and chitin. Twin mandibles snapped shut a meter away from Helena’s face and even then, the whip-like crack sent shivers along even Nestra’s spine. Gritty gravel flew through the air along with teal blood and then, everything returned to normal. Mostly.

In the center of the clearing, the sand bubbled. A spray of blue ichor traced an uneven line across the area. In Nestra’s arms, Helena struggled. She climbed back to her feet and brushed off her armor with shaky hands.

“Hoooly shit what was that?”

“Bobbit worm, hmmm.”

She checked her visor and the database there.

“Eunice Manaphorditois. A really large specimen. Hm! Should we hunt it?”

“Hell no.”

Ah, truly not a Gray Demon then, Maybe for the best. Helena was still young and inexperienced. She needed to be careful.

“Ok, that’s a great answer actually. You don’t really have the tools to safely defeat that threat on your own. Anyway! I’m going to kill it.”

“Why? Are you sure?”

“The shell’s apparently valuable and since it’s so big, probably even more so. It can either be used in light armor or as magical dye according to my file. Also… it’s edible. And delicious.”

“You… are going to eat that stuff? Really?”

“Hey, think of it as, errr.”

Nestra considered her options.

“Land crustacean.”

“It’s a fucking insect.”

“No it’s not. It has more than six limbs. It’s probably an arthropod.”

“You are bringing semantics into gastronomy?”

“Look, you don’t have to touch it.”

“Maybe kill it first and then you can talk,” Helena said defiantly.

Nestra shrugged. Before she could do anything, Sashimi dove and slapped the ground with its tail. The bobbit worm rushed out once more, again finding only air as the shark mockingly swam away. Nestra was off before the worm even snapped its jaw shut. It perceived her but too late. Its segmented body ponderously swept to the side, hoping to crush Nestra with weight alone but it was futile. She deftly stepped on its back and stabbed down with a void claw, severing the central nerve. The beast shivered as it fell.

Nestra felt her bones grow slightly harder. She moved her shoulders a bit to get used to the sensation. Resistances were both rare and very nice.

“Wah,” Helena exclaimed while the dust settled.

Share.

Nestra grumbled but the shark had done half of the job so she didn’t have the moral high ground. It was a matter of minutes to cut the worm apart, piling the shell and mandibles on one side for later sales. Sashimi refused to eat unless Nestra threw the pieces of meat so the shark could snap them mid-air. The process annoyed Nestra to no end. Did the spare seafood banquet want to eat or not? What was its deal alway? She grumbled as she packed the bobbit tail meat into her backpack since it was the best part. Well, second best part after the brainstem but she let Sashimi have it.

“What now? Also, ew.”

“You didn’t have to touch anything and I didn’t pierce their entrails so you have no right to complain. Ok, so we must be getting close to the guardian. I will handle the followers while you focus on them. According to my database, they should be a scout leader.”

“Oh! I know that, it was even in one of my exams. Enchanted weapons and good technique. I got it.”

It suddenly occurred to Nestra that Helena was attending a school she had personally dropped out of, so technically, Helena was a better trained and more knowledgeable raider than she was.

“Huh. Ok then. One last thing because you may have forgotten. Remember that in a portal world, the local fauna is as dangerous as the main foes.”

“Yeah, I know. Sorry about that. I just don’t think that species is very common. I’ll be more careful!”

“You are doing really well. Ok, let’s go.”

Once again, Helena took point. The sounds of battle increased again to the point it sounded like the pair was heading straight towards it, even though it was probably long over in whatever world it had taken place in. They spotted a clearing very soon and a sound of alarm came from a scout standing at the edge of the trees. Helena didn’t seem disappointed. It was almost impossible for D-class raiders to take the fae scouts by surprise anyway. Despite their typical monster aggression, which tended to make them more reckless, ‘fae’ warriors remained on average much more skillful than humans who had to rely on their massive physical advantages to triumph. Nestra kept that in mind as she pushed ahead of Helena to engage them.

She burst out of the clearing and used momentum in the same instant, taking her surroundings mid-step. This was a camp, less fortified than camouflaged though there were a few earthworks designed to stop mounts. A tall tree stood at the top of a small hill and a large tent hid under its boughs. Warriors stood in a loose formation around a spear-wielding captain with hound-like creatures baying at her, though they looked more like trackers than war beasts.

Arrows whistled behind her. She repositioned.

The leader and obvious guardian was only slightly taller than his subordinates but there was a difference in his features that gave her pause. They were refined and smooth where the others were beastial. Almond eyes, much larger than those of a human, followed her mid teleport. The being also wore an elaborate and elegant leather armor that shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow. His hair fell down his back in an elegant silvery waterfall. For all his grace, there was something deeply disturbing in the blood dripping down his mouth. He was chewing on something and she wagered it wasn’t chicken.

The noble ordered his soldiers forward in a sybillant tongue but Nestra was already in their midst. She tore through their ranks easily since they had preferred to give each other a wide berth. It was almost too easy. Her boredom pushed her to take special care in dodging the arrows rather than letting her thick skin block them. That was decent training at least, and the motivation helped her keep motivated.

Sashimi fell on the archers hiding among the branches above her. She killed but kept her attention on the noble, who ordered his men to close ranks around him while the hounds were left to fend for themselves. Those were still D-rank monsters, all of them. They stood no chance against her, so Nestra merely disposed of them as efficiently as possible while still doing her best to dodge the arrows. And there was the power from the kills, even now pushing against her core though the boost felt rather inefficient.

Helena cut down two spearmen blocking her way, using her strength and non infused attacks. The fae tried to deflect her strikes but there was just a lot of power behind each one and they fell, overwhelmed before they could bring their techniques to bear. The captain gave Nestra one last furious glance before charging down the slope towards the roaring axe girl challenging him. Nestra used the opportunity to finish her sweep, all the while following the duel as it progressed.

The noble fae deflected Helena’s first assault with a flick of his spear. He was obviously proficient at fighting against a superior opponent but Helena was expecting it. Her strikes were precise enough to make every parry difficult. Nestra saw the pained fury on the captain’s twisted features every time an attack made his lithe arms shudder. Helena wasn’t using coating yet. She was saving mana for a finishing blow.

The result was that Helena’s training axe was getting damaged. With every deflection, the fae’s enchanted spear bit more into the axe’s blade. Helena didn’t care or maybe she didn’t notice. Nestra believed the girl had a plan, and her patience was rewarded. With a savage blow, the noble managed to cut a piece off of Helena’s axe.

Helena didn’t stop. She flipped the axe and bashed the surprised noble with the haft, sending him crashing backward. She was on him in an instant. Her axe went up, then down, engulfed in void energy.

This was where the fae superiority shone. The noble dropped his spear and surged forward, blocking the blow with a vambrace. In the same, smooth movement, he managed to lodge the enchanted piece of armor exactly where Helena’s axe showed damage. Gossamer energy fought against the fizzling void and still lost. Blood, crimson and vibrant, sprayed from the wound but the noble had gained breathing room. His hand went for a sheath hidden near his waist.

Nestra used momentum to jump forward just as Sashimi dove but she got there first. She managed to grab the noble’s hand before the enchanted dagger could burrow itself in her sister’s guts.

Then, Nestra hesitated.

And she let the arm go.

The enchanted blade dug into Helena’s flank, now with much less momentum. It pierced the training armor like butter and when Helena moved back, blood dripped from the gash. Her sister roared and struck again, then again. The noble had gambled everything on the maneuver and failed to take her down. Helena gave him no chance to get the initiative back. She smashed through the chestplate on the third strike, and cleaved the head on the fourth.

The noble was dead. Nestra felt no energy but that was fine. She was just glad that Helena had triumphed, sweaty, breathing hard and obviously mana-starved but victorious nonetheless.

The noble’s corpse was absolutely mangled though. Really, Helena was not afraid of getting her hands dirty.

“Wooooh that wasn’t easy. Wow! I got him good though, right?”

“Yes, and I am very impressed by the way you didn’t panic when you got wounded. Many people would flinch and hesitate, but you—”

“I’m wounded?” Helena asked, face an expression of panicked bafflement.

“Hm.”

“I’m wounded? Where? Aaaaah I’m bleeding! Well, it doesn’t look so bad.”

Helena put a finger in the gash of her armor, pulling it wet with her blood. She smudged it a bit on her glove.

“Huh. Ow. Owowowow. Ok, ok, I feel it now. It’s not bad though, right?”

“Nope, and we have potions.”

“Oh good.”

She stood up, a bit hesitantly. She breathed deep a couple of times, then winced. The exit portal opened inside of the tent.

“So, we can go now?”

“Don’t you want to loot first? Actually, don’t you want to drink a potion first?”

“This is nothing. I got worse in training.”

The sentence bounced around Nestra’s brain three times before it suddenly clicked.

“What do you mean, you got worse in training?”

Helena blushed, caught.

“Helena?”

“Oh, you know, sparring can get a little rough.”

Nestra knew very well that it didn’t. Schools were very specific about keeping their students healthy if only because healing liquids were rather expensive and in limited supply, not to mention wounded students had to stop training for a little while. It was a big fat lie.

“Helena.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, ok? I just want to raid in peace. With you.”

Nestra wanted to push a bit. Was Helena being bullied? Maybe? Her sister’s mulish expression told her the girl had clammed up tight and it would be of no use to pressure her now.

“Sure, ok. Here, drink this. And you can talk to me whenever.”

“Thanks. And it’s nothing too bad, just kid rivalries. I’m fine.”

Helena tried her best to sound dismissive but Nestra wasn’t fooled. Her reaction was too intense for it not to be bothering her. It still wouldn’t help to pressure her right now. Helena was already a boiling pot of emotions right now.

“Ok.”

“I am! Really!” Helena exploded.

And here it was, Nestra thought. Her sister calmed down and took a deep breath immediately after, however. That therapist must have taught her how to do that. It was rather impressive.

“Sorry. Anyway, it was really fun. Damn, those potions taste like ass.”

“Defective batch. They were supposed to taste like mint.”

“Like mint? Damn I’m happy they taste like ass instead. Anyway, go back?”

“Loot first.”

“Oh yessss!”

In the end, the harvest proved surprisingly good, including some special fruits and fae military rations humans could eat. The fruits were already cultivated and sold by the Baihua corp thanks to looted seeds, but those bastards charged an arm for a small basket so it was a good haul anyway. The spear was a minor artefact Helena intended to sell for a better, secret axe.

“Won’t you get in trouble for damaging the equipment?” Nestra asked.

“You mean like I already destroyed seven axes fucking up the coating? I’ll be fine. I’ll just fix the armor myself. Oh, can we do anything with the fae armor? It’s enchanted.”

The multicolored piece of armor was an artefact, though it was extremely weak. It would fit a child if the kid was awakened and someone wanted to do a ‘bring your kid to work’ day in a portal world and they repaired the massive damage first. Nestra told Helena as much.

“In other words, it’s fucking useless, yea?”

“We can always sell it for research. Or to a collector. I guess. Or I could take it off your hands because I have a use for it.”

“What kind of use? A little too small for cosplay, no?”

“My err, it’s hard to explain but I’ll try. You see my body suit?”

“You mean the skin suit that leaves your feet bare and sticks to your tits a bit indecently?”

“Oh I’m sorry for not being a paragon of fashionable modesty while I wade knees deep in monster guts. Anyway, yes, that, it’s actually a symbiote. It eats armor to grow.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“And it drinks some blood as well.”

“You’re either fucking with me or this is like the most wired thing ever. Show me.”

“Sure.”

Nestra grabbed the mangle piece, feeling her Skin shift and hunger like a waking snake. She brought it to her chest.

Darkness.

Ripples in the fabric of space. A hell of inward-facing teeth, extending to infinity. A tongue that peeled the soul, eyes like apertures into insanity. Slavering planetoids shoved through the eye of a needle. Cracks where a thousand maws closed. A sigh of contentment like thunder in a tiny bowl.

Reality reasserted itself.

Something burped.

The Skin extended to wrap around the arches of Nestra’s feet, leaving the toes and heel bare.

“Well, it’s progress.”

“What the FUCK?”

“Wired?”

“Ooooh wow. What a day.”

“Go back and have a picnic?”

“Sure. Do you have booze?”

“How old are you again?”

“I think I just saw space shit itself.”

“But not time so you’re still underage.”

“Riel dammit.”

***

The beat officer walked into the empty hospital, lured in by the salivating smell. Something was wrong. There should be no one in here, and in Threshold, unusual smells could be the only hints one would get before a hidden portal breached. It was probably hobos grilling sausages over a barrel fire but… better be sure. And besides, it smelled too good to be secret meat.

She called it in and took out her service weapon, just in case. If it was hobos, they would be a little scared. If it was a break, she could unload it into a dokkaebi and run.

If it was a D-class monster, the city would be safer for her sacrifice.

She gulped with some difficulty. Her steps carried her through an underground parking lot. Shadows crawled around her. Any moment now, claws would close around her neck. She felt much better when the ground rose towards a small, half-dry garden.

The smell came from a fire and she spotted its smoke in the inner courtyard. There was the top of a human head there as well, with blonde hair and a jacket.

A human.

The officer breathed a sigh of relief, then she stopped, unsure what to do with the scene.

A merry fire roared in the empty clearing, and two women sat around it. A blonde one with gray eyes slathered chili oil over chunks of juicy pale meat which she then laid on a grill while a younger, dark-haired girl chewed on a vibrantly green fruit.

It was the most bizarre sight she’d ever seen.

The two were obviously related. Also, the younger one was a gleam. She hadn’t noticed at first because her eyes were so dark but the shine was there. They were eating here of all places? The amount of food piled to the side showed they had enough to feed a dozen people.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“Eating.”

“Cooking.”

The delivery was matter of fact. The voices, eerily similar. There was nothing humorous about their tones. It was like entering a tiger enclosure and they watched you but didn’t move yet. The younger one felt more rebellious while the older was uncaring, and though she wasn’t a gleam, she somehow felt more dangerous. Too calm.

“You can’t be here, you’re trespassing.”

“Nope, this is state property and legally the hospital never fully closed so we are, in fact, not trespassing,” the blonde calmly replied.

“This is ridiculous. The hospital is clearly abandoned. I will ask you to leave.”

“What’s your fucking problem?” the gleam erupted. “We’re not doing anything wrong! Why don’t you—”

“What my sister is trying to say,” the non gleam clearly interrupted.

Sister? Oh, some baseline parents were starting to have gleam kids. Made sense. Maybe they were hiding because of personal issues.

“Is that we are trying to have a family moment here and we are not bothering anyone. Could you please let us finish? We will clean after ourselves and not bother anyone.”

The gleam smoldered in her corner, vengefully biting on her fruit. She cast the officer a dark glare as if daring her to object. The blonde woman was still the very image of detached disinterest.

Well, it was weird but not worth anything except for a report at the station. Just in case.

“Can I ask to see some ID? Then I’ll leave you alone.”

“Sure,” the blonde woman said, then she gave the officer a genuine police badge.

“The rat squad? Oh, sorry, didn’t mean to—”

“That’s ok, and I didn’t want to show you before because I didn’t want to pull rank.”

“I see. Well, I’ll leave you to it then. Please don’t litter.”

“I promise. Would you like a skewer?”

“Never during office hours. You take care now.”

The officer turned away, feeling a pair of gazes drilling into her back. She prided herself with her good instinct. Some people even said she was an intuition quirky, and perhaps they were right. It was still weird how the slightly scarred blonde woman still felt more threatening than the dark-eyed gleam girl. Probably because she was a cop. Yeah, that was it.

The officer cast one last glance back. She could swear the rat squad woman must have felt her gaze, because she looked up from the skewers and her iris were gray, not gunmetal, more like a total absence of color. For a moment, she could almost see something else.

Then the impression was gone.

Nah, it was probably the fact she was a cop. May have seen some action. That was it.

Part 21

Nestra slipped into the world with great difficulty. The membrane resisted her efforts, pushing her away like a deep current. It felt like opening a door into a flooded room.

Once in, she sprawled over bare stone. Immediately, stark heat assaulted her senses. The ground was harsh and unyielding under her fingers, black basalt, pitted and full of shards. Acid air filled her lungs. Before panic set in, she realized she could breathe it.

After the heat, it was the mana that gave her vertigo. It was so incredibly thick here, cloying, like too much perfume. She struggled to her feet and shook her head. She was standing on a flat valley the color of onyx. Red and purple crystals jutted through the air like grasping fingers aimed at a sky of dark clouds crossed by the odd lightning bolt, and above it, a dark sky with no visible star. No sun. There was only a black dot.

It was the darkest thing Nestra had ever seen. It just… absorbed light completely. A gash in reality, and around it, like fire kissing an anvil, was a disc of luminous gold heat. It provided the only real source of light in that alien landscape.

A distance away, a massive rock floated lazily away. It was as dark as the ground she stood on while yellow crystals dotted the surface of its main body. It appeared to have a flat top as well.

She turned to the only person visible. He stood with his back to her, looking in the distance.

“Are we standing on a flying rock?” she asked in the tongue of the People.

“Yes,” Seth replied.

She noticed he was wearing an elaborate robe that hid his muscular form well and gave him a scholarly look. She didn’t need a closer look to realize it was his Skin. The material flowed a little and the pattern over his left shoulder changed to give the design a more asymmetric look. It was a little weird but Nestra could see how a morphing, living piece of clothing could be a real banger for one’s wardrobe.

“Ok? And am I breathing sulfuric acid or?”

Seth shrugged as he turned. He smiled at her.

“Water, carbon dioxide and, hmmm, hydrogen sulfide. Mostly. Your earth science has many answers. I love the internet.”

“Does that not kill people?”

“We are on a B-class world, little Nezhra. B-class humans won’t let a little unbreathable atmosphere get in the way of their fun. As for us of the People, we are a little more resilient than that, although your fire resistance could use some work.”

“Hey, you’re the one who picked the portal worlds!”

“Yes, and now that you are on the cusp of the second sphere, we can get started on some real diversification!”

“Wait a moment,” Nestra said, looking around.

There were very few floating islands around, at least that she could see though more could be hidden in nearby dark clouds.

“Won’t we be found here? Aren’t B-class worlds cleared as soon as they open?”

“The permanent ones, yes, but it takes the guilds some time and this place is out of the way. Besides, trust me when I tell you I would feel them come long before they spot us.”

“Oh, ok. So. C-class? Then sparring?”

“Practice then sparring, yes. But before, a little bit of theory. What humans call classes and we call spheres or circles, do you know about them?”

“I mean, I know what everyone knows. Dokkaebi are the lowest.”

“We make no distinction between dokkaebi and the first sphere, or D-class as you call them. Those are all creatures that are taking mana in and progressively increasing their… existence, for lack of a better term. The ability to influence the world around them beyond the constraints of what their bodies would allow them to otherwise. The second sphere, or C-class, covers the creation of a physical core to match the metaphysical one, a permanent source of mana. Thus the worlds expand with every breath until the creature perishes.”

“B-class is magical body, right?”

“Yes. The entity will slowly reforge themselves until the physical matches the spiritual. It can be a long process, especially if the entity was grievously wounded, or born with many imperfections. They will also develop their own… identity. Their own magic, if they have not yet done so.”

“Ok, and A-class?”

“Domain and concept. I could elaborate but it is hardly relevant to you, and will require a deeper understanding of what mana truly is before you can understand my explanation.”

“Is there a S-class?” she asked.

It was top secret but Seth probably didn’t know that.

“Naturally, the path continues. There are at least two more steps I know of.”

“WHAT? Wait, you mean… the People have… S plus members?”

“I believe humans will have to change their nomenclature if they survive that long. And yes. But that might be something I was not supposed to share, hmmmm.”

“Riel! Wow. Do humans know?”

“To my knowledge, only Shinran has steadily advanced on the fourth circle and may have the certitude there is more beyond.”

“Ok ok, but wait, we have, hmmm, skills. Like momentum.”

“Space step?”

“Yes, that thing. It’s not a skill, is it? Not our own magic?”

“Ah, I see what you mean. It is an ability of the People that stems from our own nature and affinity with void mana. You may see it as a, hmm, racial feature. Not all races are individually equal on the path to infinity. While humans learn fast, cooperate well, are very versatile and adaptive, we tend to be… individually stronger but also very self-centered, if I may. Humans do not have access to void mana, and thus cannot develop those skills.”

“Except Helena.”

Seth nodded.

“True, though it remains to see if she can use those skills as well. Void mana use might be very hard on her body.”

“Speaking of…”

Nestra stepped closer to Seth, who watched her come impassively. It felt stupid to be worried about asking. Seth was a good person. Well, good to her. Surely, he wouldn’t mind?

“So I was thinking. Helena, she, errr, might need some help training. How would you feel about training sessions together?”

Seth winced. He took a deep breath, but then his expression hardened and it was like he became a whole other person. On the weird hell space background, the unyielding horned warrior intimidated Nestra a little. It was not just the traditional Christian imagery of evil. He just matched the apocalyptic vista a little too well.

“I am sorry, little Nezhra. I must refuse. You are taking too many risks, opening yourself to too many people.”

“She’s my sister.”

“And she is a human, and you are of the People. By now, three separate host kin know of your existence as a Gray Demon, as they call us: Mazingwe, Helena, and Gorge since his two sons have not grasped the situation. Three is a lot, especially a month after your awakening. You are taking their trust for granted, but we do not. My rules are clear. I am not here to help your family. They can and will betray you.”

Nestra noticed the hard edge and felt a pang of sympathy.

“It… happened to you?”

Seth flinched a little, then he chuckled. There was a bitter edge in the curl of his smile.

“Yes, well guessed.”

“I’m sorry it happened to you, Sereth, but I cannot abandon my sister. She believes in me.”

“And I will not get in the way but I will not help either.”

He sighed.

“Now might be the right time to explain the rules I am under. It will be easier to tell you what I can do. I can provide advice and training, perhaps even lend an ear since humans like to talk so much. I will intervene if the humans use their technology to track you. I will also intervene if something attacks you that you could not possibly have a chance of defeating, such as Mazingwe. The rest, I will not do.”

He looked away. The goofy, sometimes stooped demon brother disappeared and in its place was a threatening being with inhuman features and eyes like portals into the abyss. He stood like an immovable mountain and he felt very, very dangerous to her instincts.

“I will not save you from yourself or your failures. That is not our way, and I will not change them, not even for you. If you make a mistake in combat, you die. If you attack more than you can chew in the real world, you die. If you lose your temper and reveal your form in a room full of human users, you die. If you have to crawl on broken limbs back to an entrance portal because you overestimated yourself and succumbed to hubris, you crawl, or you die. If you must eat the dead with your skinned fingers because you are lost and starving, you eat, or you die. If any of your friends or relatives find themselves in danger and I could do something to save them, I will not. If Helena is in danger and you fail to save her, she will die. The same applies to Gorge.”

“What about Aunt Claire?”

“There is nothing that can take her down that you would stand a chance against.”

“What about Stibs?”

“Siobhan… is MINE. HSSSS.”

Fear. It hit her like a wave. Nestra had to take a step back before reason reasserted itself and she could remember this was Seth, and he would never hurt her on purpose.

“Siobhan concerns me, and I will act according to my own rules. The others are yours. Protect them, or fail to do so, or do not try. It is your decision and the burden of success or failure are yours to carry, but you will carry them. I will only stop what you had no way to predict. Do you understand?”

Nestra considered the question.

“If I stand against a corpo to protect a friend and they find me and send a heavy hitter after me, will you intervene?”

“Did you take enough precautions, and was your identity found due to superior technology you could not have predicted? Then yes? Do I believe you acted like a stupid whelp? Then you will never reach our dwelling. It is that simple.”

“Ok, got it. I think. I just… despite my misgivings, I really care about people. I was just too hurt to realize it. Too focused on my pain. I just hope my idealism will not kill me.”

“Then back it up with a measure of cold detachment. It is not your goal I am judging, but your methods.”

Something whispered at the back of Nestra’s mind.

“What if I just started killing people in secret to grow stronger? Would you stop me then?”

“Of course not,” Seth replied, completely uncaring. “You would not be the first kin to, ah, jump start your growth that way.”

“I mean, it feels like I could just keep killing host kin and I would always get growth,” she remarked.

Maybe Gray Demons were threats to their host kin most of all. She wondered if more aware species had groups dedicated to rooting out and killing demons spawn before they could grow.

Seth was looking in the distance.

“What?”

“This is not a host kin specificity. We suspect this might be… a human specificity.”

“What? But, that means other—”

“This is neither here nor now.”

A chill crawled up Nestra’s spine despite the stifling heat.

Could the People be inquiring into… but no, they are hunters. They would never farm humans.

Sereth crossed his arms. It looked like he was done.

“Should we talk about cores next?” she asked.

“Yes. The possession of a physical core is the mark of a second sphere, ah, C-class entity.”

He was returning to his usual enthusiastic self. The dichotomy was making her head spin.

“Still can’t believe Aunt Claire has a solid ball inside her heart,” she remarked to dispel the last dregs of heavy mood.

“The idea of a core as a ball is inaccurate. It is portrayed like this in the media because of human expectations. In reality, the shape varies. As for its superimposition with the flesh, there are essays on space warping I will not share with you but suffice to say, it is not fully there.”

“Is it the same as… my human and my demon form? Sorry for the segue.”

“No it is alright. Both rely on space manipulation, however demon Masking is a void-based ability that superimposes two bodies in the same twinned space and…”

Seth sighed, though Nestra wasn’t sure why.

“There will be plenty of time to study this in the future. For now, we can put it like this. The other body always exists in a space… inside of your current one. The human body is tethered to the demon one, so it can be destroyed which will pull your demon body forward but if the demon body is destroyed, you die. The hidden body exists in animated suspension, meaning it is inactive but it will heal by drawing energy and nutrients from the active body. And, uh, you can choose to swap the items you are currently wearing. For you right now, it will only be a handful of items but mature demons can carry a lot. Especially the women.”

He suddenly frowned, as if realizing something.

“But then, why do they always have me carry the… ah, unimportant. Now that your curiosity is sated, can we continue talking about cores?”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“You currently have a seed of a core as a demon on the cusp of the second sphere. A very fast progression, by the way, especially without direct help. This seed must be fed. Now, I did some research on human transition from first to second sphere…”

“You mean you spied on guilds,” Nestra guessed.

Seth shrugged.

“Yes? Is that not the best way?”

“Nevermind. Please do go on.”

“In humans the formation of a core requires meditation and the absorption of a lot of mana. It appears to be mostly instinctive. For us, it will require you to push your body to its current limit.”

Nestra frowned.

“Recently, it feels as if—”

“Your physical power and other attributes have stopped progressing.”

“Not the resistances though.”

“Yes, or the magical abilities, am I correct?”

“Yeah… how do you know? Do you have a mind palace as well?”

“Yes. Although, for me, it is a cave by the sea.”

His long ears twitched. He shuffled uneasily from foot to foot.

“I wasn’t supposed to know?” Nestra asked.

“It is less about imposed rules and more about intimacy. You are my sister, but you barely know me and I shared this personal piece of information with you without asking.”

“So, a People faux-pas?”

“Yes. We seldom talk about our years before we return to… to the fold. Not to people we barely know.”

“It’s ok. Your secret is safe with me and I, err, I appreciate your trust. I know you’re doing your best. I won’t forget it.”

“Ah, you are kind for one of us. Let me continue then. Your core will only fully form and then start growing once the magical abilities inside of you reach the top of the first sphere. This usually happens last because first sphere creatures rarely rely on magic to defend themselves since their reserves are mechanically rather weak. You could, of course, keep killing them and eventually the excess power will convert into magical progress. The other solution would be to kill a magical second sphere creature and thus do all the progress in one go.”

“I am intrigued.”

“Good, because I am not leaving you a choice. I will show you the way after we have trained a little, and I have helped develop your abilities to my satisfaction. The creature will be much stronger than you. It will not be easy.”

“Ok. Before we spar, there was another thing. I was considering becoming a dark horse, that is —”

“I know what a dark horse is. I watch vids.”

He was very proud about it too.

“Oh, what’s your favorite drama? I surprisingly enjoy some of the romance ones.”

“Later, Nestra. I have no objection to you becoming a dark horse provided you are extra careful. If I start having to plug leaks and kill people left and right, I will have to ask you to call it off.”

“Agreed, and do let me know when I make a mistake. I’m eager to learn how to be a proper infiltrator.”

“Very well, miss super secret spy. Now, sparring. First thing first, I will attack and defend a few times to assess your current level. Do not be alarmed.”

“Ok, where and when?”

“Here and now.”

It was exactly what Nestra expected, and she had her sword out before Seth was done talking. He walked forward with steps that made the ground shake. Nestra almost lost her footing.

Wait, he wasn’t serious, ri—

DEATH.

Pressure, immense. Nestra used momentum to move to the side. Seth landed where she had been an instant ago. His fist pulverized the ground, sending shards of obsidian flying through the air with a cataclysmic sound of shattered glass. Nestra let the shrapnels slide on their skin. She moved in. Precision guided her hand. Her sword sung through the air on their way to slash his eyes. She expected him to step back and was ready for a follow up, but he slapped the blade away, no, punched it, and then he was all in her face. She used immovable to block the next jab on the flat of her blade. Even gorged with void mana, the implement barely stopped him.

“Ooof.”

Her feet slid on the uneven ground.

Ok, she couldn’t face him head on. She used momentum to reposition mid slide and countered as he closed the distance again. She dodged and walked back, countering and feinting to stay one step ahead but he was an avalanche that never stopped, and she was making mistakes. A hook glanced off her shoulder and he smiled viciously, until her blade almost kissed his chin. He took a step back. Had to, it was a good counter.

Two fingers extended, she called her mana forth.

Her bolt’s anchor connected with his fist, which he had placed in front of his damn face. Potential called for power.

Her spell triggered with a thunderous explosion but slabs like ice that never met a sun moved in the way. The mockery of stone exploded outward, showering her in shards. It was her turn to step back.

When she glanced up, Sereth was rubbing his fingers, expression distant.

“Not bad.”

He punched her in the face. There in one moment, here now. Momentum. Of course.

“But not enou—”

She used momentum as well, but at a shorter distance than ever before, just enough to step under his blow and attack at the same time. She used precision to aim for the mouth since he enjoyed flapping it around that much.

“Oooh,” Seth said appreciatively.

He bit it.

He bit the damn sword. A version of immovable helped him hold on. So she kicked him in the nuts, or at least she tried, but must have missed and hit the inner thigh instead. He twisted away. The sudden move almost disarmed her, so she cast another bolt at his back and this time, it landed.

Seth’s shoulders shook, and she realized he was laughing.

“You tried to kick me in the gonads. My fault for underestimating a Scornful Crescent. You folks are so annoying.”

“So you follow another path?” she asked, a little curious despite her desire to bash his face in,

Wouldn’t happen anyway.

“Yes. Scornful Crescents are rather rare, in fact, especially in our family. My path is that of the Unrelenting Stalker. It is much more… direct. Shall we?”

“Come at me, asshole,” she said, doing a flourish with her blade.

Just a damn shame she was already running dry on mana.

Seth smirked. His skin expanded from the cloth to morph into thick plate armor that left only teeth and eyes bare. The armor was almost insectile in nature, close to the aesthetic that the fae warriors had favored. It looked really fucking intimidating especially since the one wearing it had tanked a bolt that had demolished a C-rank monster in one go like it was just a friendly zap. Not even that.

The armored monster pushed his fists together. Heavy, spiky gauntlets covered them, ending in wicked claws.

“I will keep adapting to your speed and skill as I get to understand your style better. Where were we? Ah yes.”

Nestra flipped her sword and struck just as that bastard used momentum to catch her off guard just as she knew he would try. Sadly, her guess was off by a bit and the void-drenched blade slid against a pauldron. His own fist hit her leg and flipped her like a log. She twisted on herself and sliced at the same time. He blocked it on his vambrace.

Then he lightly punched her in the gut. Lightly because it only hurt a bit.

She was airborne and quite breathless.

Her cheek was still hurting.

This was going to be a long day.

***

“Look, it’s weird to say but… your style almost exactly matches the one Helena is developing.”

Seth sighed. He seemed really pained about it.

“I know, you can’t tell her stuff.”

“I cannot teach a human, and besides… you are trusting your sister too much. At the risk of repeating myself…”

“She knows what I am and is cool with it.”

“Yes,” Seth struggled. “She is but… siblings… sometimes you count on them and they turn on you.”

Seth scratched his arm with a long nail, then frowned and stopped when he noticed Nestra’s attention.

“I have spent too much time wearing a single mask in a civilization where facial expressions are not punished.”

“I assume you had a difficult time among your host kin?”

“Yes. It was… ah, you know our father selects highly placed families. Some have a rather more stringent approach to education and siblings than yours do. Most of them, in fact. A matter of survival. My sister… I trusted her very much. You are very lucky.”

“I’m sorry, Seth.”

“I will not teach Helena.”

That sounded definitive. Nestra considered the issue from another angle.

“Look, she is the first child with void magic, right? Or at least they are extremely rare among host kin?”

“Unique, as I said before,” Seth replied, tilting his head to the side. His long ears twitched. At least, she got his attention.

“So maybe the covens would be interested in how she, uh, works with us? With our culture? Elements of it, maybe. If you are truly interested in humans, then would the covens not love the idea of a human who accepts a demon for who they are? And can be taught void skills? You said we’re considered versatile. That’s related to resourceful, right? And changing their mind could be of interest to you as well, Seth.”

A low rumble shook his chest. It took her quite some time to realize he was laughing. it didn’t sound very human.

“You are courageous to call upon the attention of the covens. Although, you are a woman of the People so I suppose you can allow yourself to be more daring. You speak the truth. The covens may have an interest in your sister’s peculiar situation. I will ask them, but I will also abide by their decision, should they refuse.”

“Are the covens that important, or are you just more aligned with them?”

Seth shrugged.

“I already told you. They create portals, impossible paths between distant places while the other species must follow existing worlds and hope for the best. You cannot comprehend the ramifications of such a power. Not yet. So yes, they have great power in our society.”

“Sooooo when can I do that?”

Seth laughed. It was a little bit insulting.

“Not for a long, long time. Enough of this. You must be famished, let us head back.”

“Yes!”

***

The Sunflour was mostly empty at this time of the day. Seth delicately placed a plate of lemon biscuits on the table between Nestra and Stibs, looking like the world’s most deceptive butler.

“Thank you love,” Stibs replied with a smile and a blush.

Huh, he had her completely under his power, the old monster. Actually, how old was he to begin with? Was it not, like, wrong for him to go after women under eighty or something? Nestra couldn’t be sure and thus left the problem to future Nestra.

“So, how are you feeling now?” Stibs finally asked after availing herself to some biscuit.

“Good. Still a little sore.”

“You dolt, I meant your mood,” Stibs replied while rolling her eyes dramatically. “Almost dying? Losing your partner? Hello?”

“Ah, sorry. You know how it is. Almost dying no longer has the same impact it used to, and as for Shinoda, he was a pretty amazing guy but I didn’t know him for long enough to be truly devastated. Still a bit sad though. It’s hard to find people with such strong conviction that would put their life on the line every time,” Nestra said, perhaps a bit dreamily.

“The hell are you, Nestra? A neo-samurai? I thought you were eternally snarky and dismissive!”

“It’s really easy to be more pleasant when you’re not hurting all the time. Shocking, I know,” Nestra said with perhaps a little bite.

“Oh. Yeah. Anyway, Shinoda was actually a legend. Many more people wanted to show up at his funeral, you know? Including the entire Blue River guild. But Officer Kim told us to send representatives instead. She didn’t want to make a scene.”

“Or more of a scene. His ex showed up.”

“Oh, nasty. Speaking of nasty, you’re feeling better, right?”

“Yep. Eating mana food has been working wonders.”

“And… is it sustainable? You think?”

“As long as I have the money,” Nestra shrugged.

It was more about awakening but she was feeling cranky without mana food anyway so, might as well stick to this version.

“Speaking of, do you need a job? I could plug you with the Blue River. We’re looking for baseline enforcers for more delicate jobs that require infiltration and the likes.”

“I think Kim has something for me. That’s what she said anyway.”

“Not ready to throw off the yoke of the tyranny of government, Nestra?”

“Har har. Maybe one day but right now I’m on break.”

“You’re so unwilling to make waves.”

“Oh, you have no idea.”

Stibs chuckled. She looked much better, so either the new job was much less mentally exhausting, or Seth was really helping her. Or both. Maybe it was also the sex thing. She was unwilling to ask.

***

Nestra relaxed on her couch at home, checking a catalog on her visor. Her plan for the next few days was settled. The settlement money from Gidung was in her account, making her significantly richer than her demon self for now. She was also on indefinite administrative leave that would last at least a month, and Doctor Mazingwe had doctored (haha) a note to say she was hurt from the battle against the beast tide.

That part was true though, and she was still hurt on account of Seth kicking her ass all across the B-class floating caldera. The tall fucker. It was thus time for human Nestra to take the back seat for a while, relax, enjoy her break, maybe have a spa day while true Nestra would come out and play. But first! She had one last thing to arrange.

The representative picked up after the first ring.

“Gidung company concession hello? Park Sun-jeo here. How may I help you?”

“Hello, my name is Nestra Palladian. I was told to call you to arrange my new car.”

“Ah yes, Palladian-nim. Thank you for calling me. My superior already informed me of the situation. I would like to once again extend our apology for this mishap.”

It wasn’t a fucking mishap, Nestra thought. Someone tried to zero her.

“Yeah, sure. So what can I get as a replacement?”

“Yes, that is the thing. As a mark of our appreciation, I have been authorized to offer you our latest Grebe brand of economical hover cars. An excellent product, if I might say, with an autonomy of over two hours.”

Nestra didn’t have to think much. A hover car was super convenient but it was absolutely shit for her, because it was a gleam car. It ran on mana, at least for the antigrav mode. It wasn’t even the questions she would get using that regularly. Her house didn’t have a setup to handle hover cars. And they were expensive as fuck to maintain.

She wondered if this was a calculated insult and then wondered if it was the contrary, offering them their best class of product knowing she would probably refuse but still showing they were willing to go the extra mile. Gidung products couldn’t be resold without their agreement, not without a ton of hassle, so she couldn’t just take the money and run.

A shame because Gidung cars were streamlined designs, contrary to the main vehicle-focused corpo, Touhei. They definitely went for function over form.

“I’ll have to decline.”

“We also have a wide selection of cars so long as the value remains below eighty thousand credits. The cost value, not the market value. Speaking of, we have just had a car returned to us after its owner decided that it was no longer the best option for him at the moment. It is an Alda model 4.”

Nestra’s enthusiasm picked up. Aldas were legendary cars, even she knew that, though the model thing was beyond her meager knowledge. She used her visor to check what the sales guy had said.

It looked nice.

Really, really nice… and…

“Is it the roofless version?”

“Absolutely, Palladian-nim. The car is a convertible with memory upholstery. Would you like to come and give it a virtual spin in our AI-generated simulation?”

It took five minutes but she did so and by Riel this was a nice car. Sleek and retro with rounder shapes than modern sensibilities favored, but it was cute and felt nice. And she knew it was safe and comfortable as well. And fast. Not that it mattered much here.

“Ok, I like it. I’d like a two years insurance for that.”

“I will write you in for the whole after-sale package. Now there is only one last question to address. What color would you like the car?”

“Bright pink.”

There was a moment of hesitation on the other side of the call. Aldas were a little on the macho side of cars though it wasn’t as pronounced as, say, a Wellington Stryker. You had to be so extra to drive one of those inside of town.

“Bonbon pink? As flashy as possible?”

“Exactly.”

“Why certainly, Palladian-nim. I will have it arranged immediately. We will deliver the car at your home within the next three days. I will call you back when I have a time, if that is agreeable?”

“Sure thing. Bye.”

“Have a great day, Palladian-nim.”

Nestra chuckled. A pink Alda. Aunt Claire would blow a massive fuse. She couldn’t wait.

And now for the last important step. She picked up her burner.

“Hey, this line is secure, right?”

“Yes,” Gorge’s modified voice said. “Why?”

“I’m ready to mask up. Let’s go with the dark horse option. I’m gathering all the stuff I need and then I’ll register.”

“Finally, we enter the gleam zone. Lets’ make a credit or two out of those fuckers. No insult intended.”

“This time.”

“You know it. Have you picked up a call name?”

Nestra wondered if Demon was a little too on the nose.

It was probably taken anyway.

Part 22

In order to become a masked gleam safely, Nestra deployed every last bit of paranoia she was capable of. Even searching the process was done via an antique burner phone. She did her application remotely using the maximum possible amount of loopholes, and the highest secrecy offered. Gleams could accelerate the process by linking their raider identity but Nestra would take the test to prove she was no joker. Gleams could link their financial info but Nestra would get an ad hoc bank account open for all her transactions, which would take more time. Gleams could bypass medical exams by, again, revealing their real identity to people sworn to secrecy but she would get basic body data recorded by an AI in a sealed chamber.

All of this meant that what could have been a one hour formality was going to be a day-long ordeal but that was fine. She was already cutting it damn close by having a handful of people know about the real her, so she ought to cling to every bit of discretion she could. There was also the fact that this would be the spotlight. Right now, nobody knew she was raiding, so no one was keeping track, but she was solo finishing what people carefully completed in squads of four.

It was during the last sparring that she realized she’d forgotten something important. Her counter was blocked, again, so she used her last mana reserves to blast Seth in the face at point blank range. The asshole simply leaned to the side and let the gray thunderbolt fluff his hair. He was too used to her style by now. She had her break, though.

“By the way, I forgot two things.”

“Hmm?”

“First, how do I not set every camera around into a frenzy?”

“Oh! I almost forgot. You are wise to remind me of this detail, as it would be problematic if people linked this phenomenon to your gleam identity. The exercise is not very difficult. You merely need to look at a camera and tell yourself you exist very strongly.”

Nestra took a few steps back and mulled this over.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“The thought will ground you, and allow devices, magic and otherwise, to capture your presence. Let’s just practice this for now and you will see that it is a mindset. Just remember not to be too distracted during the interviews and you will be fine.”

“Oh, alright?”

It was, in fact, rather easy. Nestra tended to be aloof and disliked attention, but the mindset involved the demon’s natural tendency to also show off and, for the lack of a better term, assert dominance. It was quite fun.

“One last question,” she finally said.

“Yes?”

“Do you know what Sashimi’s gender is? Because I’m tired of referring to them as they without knowing if there is a more accurate descriptor.”

Seth’s mouth made that beached fish thing. He tilted his head, and his thin, pointed ears made that waving thing that showed he was thinking hard.

“For all intents and purposes, Sashimi is female.”

“That’s noncommittal.”

“Void shark anatomy involves sequential hermaphroditism, like some species of earth sharks. She is female now and will remain female for a while, but if she grows extremely large, she may become male depending on the territory she can claim and the current population balance. Void sharks are fascinating creatures! I have tried to tell the others but they are only interested in hunting…”

Seth frowned a little.

“I will have to tell the covens that Sashimi is not to be touched, though she is too small to be of interest to one of the People.”

“No touching my shark. Only I can bite her. I insist.”

“Of course. But truly, you bond with the strangest beings,” Seth said wisely.

“Uhu,” Nestra replied with a pointed look.

He missed the cue entirely.

“More sparring!”

Nestra didn’t have the time to reply. He just attacked again. She blocked the first blow and tried to punch him in the face. It didn’t work.

***

Nestra walked through the corridor of resistances, in her mind palace.

It remained kind of empty. So far, she had three sets of armor representing skin resistance, bone resistance, and sensory resistance that looked semi-decent but the shields that represented more elemental resistances were few, and they were kind of barebone. She had heat, toxins, acid, and cold shields in a spot that was clearly housed for many, many more pieces of armor. There were also many more ways for someone to get hurt. Interestingly, there was no electricity shield despite the fact she knew she was resistant. Maybe her mind considered it a different way. Inborn versus acquired, perhaps? In any case, her collection was still lacking but that was normal at D-rank, or so Seth had said.

He was excited to help improve her collection. Nestra was also excited about hunting more stuff but she surmised acid-resistant creatures tended to spray the stuff themselves and that couldn’t be too fun to experience.

With a sigh, she returned to the central hallway, then to the core door. There, the fake electricity core still hovered. It had grown a little bit, but not much, and it felt more intrinsic than stolen like the rest. It remained the only fake core as well. She had hoped killing the corrupt cop gleams would have helped but clearly, she needed something more.

Her path to power remained a long one.

After sighing a second time, Nestra headed to the sphere room, this one representing her physical and magical attributes. The planetoids rotated over a deepening lake representing an increased mana pool, though it was only maybe six or seven times what she had started with. That wasn’t actually much. All of the spheres positively vibrated with energy except the three representing mana intensity, control, and regeneration. Power radiated strength, celerity represented speed and precision, resilience was how long she could last and how much she could resist, awareness related to senses, and mind speed was how fast she could process information. They were as strong as they would get. All surplus energy would slide off of them to seep into the magical spheres from now on. Unless she could build a true physical core.

There were, finally, the bounds. They shimmered in the semi-darkness of the grotto. Power and resilience gave her immovable. Power and celerity gave her momentum. Awareness and celerity had granted her precision, and awareness and magic control led to passe-muraille, the ability to slip through walls. Nestra felt dangerous enough as she was but what she needed was a better way to handle the unknown. She had been surprised too many times. In a C-class world, that would be death.

She needed a little more utility.

Slowly, Nestra linked awareness and mind speed. The spheres were more than ready to accept a new binding so the effort was minimal. After a small bit of resistance, the spheres rejoined the dance above her head. That was it.

She felt it lock into place. Intuition, she would call it, rather than danger sense though it felt more appropriate.

Now, if something came for her, she would get a bit of warning.

***

The fateful day happened a week later, at the end of summer. By then, Nestra felt much more in tune with her body and abilities. There was still a mountain between Seth and herself despite her smug brother ‘lowering himself to her level’, but that was not a gap that could be bridged in weeks, or years. She still felt much better adapting to her demon self. After fighting as baseline for so long, now she had to contend with a longer reach, a longer stride, a higher center of gravity, a traversal ability and the Scornful Crescent style. There would be a learning curve until she fought at her best.

Some things just took time and practice. She was ok with that. It was just how training worked, and no amount of pillaged strength would change that.

Again, Nestra was forced to wake up before her biological clock agreed, but a hearty breakfast made it all better. She drove her flashy brand new pink car to an entertainment mall, parked there and then walked to a vast community center at the edge of the central district where the amount of cameras was low. There she removed her mask in a janitor’s room and checked herself one last time.

Fancy mask that melded with her small horns so they looked like they were part of it: in place. Her horns let her feel mana better so they’d better stay exposed. Besides, they tickled.

Combat suit: in place. Her Skin left too much, well, natural skin exposed and that was a big no. This one had cost her a pretty penny but fuck it, she couldn’t really afford to leave skin exposed yet the suit could not hamper her movement. No cheap stuff would do.

Security badge that showed her as an applicant, sent by drone to a remote location: pinned to her chest and visible. Very visible.

Wouldn’t want anyone to get ideas.

That was it. She had a burner credit chit in a side pocket for the subway fare and maybe a snack or two and nothing else. No electronics.

This was going to be really weird.

Nestra focused on existing to the humans, then slid through a nearby wall into a service access corridor. She followed a path without cameras for a good five minutes before coming upon her first human. A short woman in a suit opened the door in front of her, had one look at the horned figure and screamed.

Nestra stopped.

The woman’s face was an expression of deep terror. She grabbed her chest and swore, though her eyes had found the really visible ID badge, so at least she knew Nestra wasn’t a monster.

‘Nice thinking, Nestra!’ Nestra thought to herself.

“CHOI! You scared me! Errr.”

Nestra waited.

She wanted to go through the door. The woman was in the way. She wasn’t particularly inclined to talk in demon form, at least not to strangers. Even talking with Helena was kind of a pain while she was her true self.

And Nestra realized she didn’t have to.

She was a gleam, and though not technically in a public part of the community center, she wasn’t trespassing either.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked, still gripping the handle like a safety rope.

Nestra shook her head, then pointed at the door.

“Oh, sorry.”

And that was it. Nestra moved on, and all of this without having to speak a single word to justify herself. Not having to talk felt strangely exhilarating. Liberating, in a way.

The woman let Nestra walk into the main hall of the community center, where at least a hundred people milled around or queued for activities. There were a lot of children here, during office hours. Many people stopped to stare but she walked confidently, like she belonged, and nothing happened. No one stopped her. No one recognized the Aszhii, the cacodaimon anthropomimesis in the midst of homo sapiens. Those she came across near the entrance did a double take but they quickly returned to their visors or data sheets because it was rude to stare. The feeling of existing to them grew stronger until she no longer really had to focus to let the cameras pick up on her presence. It was a short jaunt to the subway station, then she made to board the busy train towards Central.

Except, she could ride in the user compartment now. A bit curious, she moved to the front of the platform where a couple of gleams were waiting beyond a symbolic barrier. Most of them here were office folks in corpo slave uniforms, only fancier. They all wore something that was made from monster parts as a status symbol. A scarf. A hat. Sometimes, a necklace that shimmered in her sight. They had one glance at her before ignoring her presence.

She sat down on a bench to wait. Gleam fingers suddenly danced on sheets. Not ignoring her then. Maybe they were gossiping. Or looking for her profile? She knew famous gleams were listed on various websites.

The train arrived smoothly, doors opening invitingly into a slightly forbidden space. The gleam carriage was the same as the others but it obviously had a ton more room. She managed to grab a seat. During peak hour! Well, at the end of peak hour. Also, it was far too low for her to be really comfortable.

Her head was brushing the roof otherwise, though.

The corpo gleams stole glances at her but mostly left her alone. She just sat back and relaxed. The ride would take thirty minutes, even with her driving a bit before, because Threshold was just that massive. There was nothing to do but wait.

She really believed there would be no issues at all, but ten minutes into the silent ride, the gates opened and in came the raiders.

There was something inherently different about raiders. D-class users who didn’t want to fight could still grow stronger by basking in mana at regular intervals, though it was significantly slower, but they lacked a certain edge that raiders gave off regardless of power. A taste to their mana, as if it were more alive, even in the most polite of context. Here, there was nothing polite about the way the three raiders walked in. They stumbled in brazenly. One of them guffawed. The scent of powerful mana booze tickled Nestra’s nostrils along with a smokier odor she didn’t recognize. Drugs, maybe. She saw dilated pupils shining even in the well-lit carriage. Definitely drugs. Sweat and a tinge of blood hit her next. Recent raid. Celebratory party? Fancy clothes but rumpled, some of it stained. Her intuition woke up but it remained calm, as if warning her of trouble but not danger.

She didn’t look away. The human reflexes that had served her for so long didn’t really work on her demon form, so she stared, trying to learn more. Even if it invited attention.

They spotted her.

“Hey guys, check this out,” the leader said.

He was a squat, powerfully built man with close-cropped dark hair and deep brown iris. Pinoy, she judged. Smiling but with cold eyes searching for amusement. He’d found her.

The second was a blond anglo with frizzy hair who looked completely out of it. Unfocused. Definitely more addled than the other to the point of incapacity. Yellow iris. Probably an electrokinetic. Striker build. The leader was clearly a frontliner, less mobile, stronger.

The last one was a woman, very similar to the leader. She looked fed up with his shit. Worry filled her features. Not sure what she was from the dull red iris, probably support and interdiction. Only the leader was a threat.

Wait, what was she thinking? This wasn’t human Nestra here. Those were all mid-high D-class.

They didn’t stand a chance.

“Hey bitch, what’s with the getup? Is it Halloween already?”

The leader approached. He didn’t check behind him for support, so the stoned guy just stayed listlessly where he was, though he was no longer smiling, and the woman grabbed her relative’s shoulder in a gesture of restraint.

“Roel…”

In vain. He wouldn’t be denied.

The lack of backing didn’t affect the leader though it should have, just as the fact Nestra didn’t leak mana all over the place like they did should have alerted him, but instead he took it as a sign of weakness. He wasn’t himself.

Nestra watched him approach and considered what to do. She didn’t need to beat them up or kill them, of course, but she also didn’t need to cower. Or calm things down to avoid a hospital stay.

Behind this white mask, she was more free than she’d ever been.

“What the fuck are you cosplaying at? Hey, remove the mask. I wanna see if you’re not a known criminal. Just checking, yeah?”

The leader chuckled. He was being an ass but she would still give him a way out.

“Unwise,” she hissed.

Her voice was low and though Helena loved the pitch, she suspected the other humans might not agree. The woman held the man back with more strength, clearly not expecting it to work. He reached for her face.

“I said —”

Nestra grabbed him by the throat, then she was standing, all in the same move. The leader was left dangling with his feet in the air. Surprise led to fury. He grabbed her arm with two hands, braced his body, then kicked her chest. She rotated smoothly and let most of the blow glance off her torso. It would have been painful without the resistance she had accumulated. As it was, she barely felt it.

Another attempt failed.

Anger turned to fear. The woman wanted to do something but didn’t dare to. The drugged one was only starting to realize something was wrong.

Nestra tightened her grip.

Fear turned to panic.

“Please wait,” the woman said.

And Nestra released the man. He collapsed, legs buckling and hands flying to his throat like spooked birds. He gulped precious air with pure relief. Nestra waited for him to look at her. The cockyness was gone, as was the fun part of the intoxication. Adrenaline could do that.

He scrambled to his feet.

Nestra slowly, slowly bent forward until their faces were level. He didn’t dare move. The huntress in her didn’t care about those cubs playing around, but the human enjoyed this little bit of free schadenfreude.

“Unwise,” she repeated.

“Yeah, I got it.”

Nestra sat back while he readjusted his collar, turning around with a huff to salvage what was left of his dignity. She glared a little at the woman, just because she was still in her personal space, and by personal space Nestra meant every part of the carriage she might reach if she stretched her legs really far. The gleam bowed before departing. Honestly, Nestra didn’t blame her. She was probably tasked with wrangling a talented scion and it was clear her relative had a mean streak, not to mention he didn’t listen.

The trio sat at the opposite side and mumbled quietly to themselves. During the whole incident, the other gleams had scrupulously kept to themselves.

Nestra relaxed again. Then it hit her.

She had bullied a gleam.

Riel dammit but that felt fucking nice. And all of this without maneuvering or pointless verbal sparring. Just good old strangulation. And she had uttered one word, twice during the entire exchange. From behind a mask. Didn’t even have to school her facial expressions.

Life was grand.

Her next mask would need a mouth opening so she could just plain bite people. A magic one when she could afford it.

The ride went on without issues, the raiders leaving the train a little later. Nestra knew that technically, what she had done could be seen as assault, but the reality was that no raider would want to get the cops involved. Great families sending goons for the smallest slight was vid shit. It didn’t happen in real life.

As she looked around, the train climbed a small slope and soon, they were in a tube suspended midair. The late summer morning sun hit Central just right, backlighting the colossal skyscrapers on a field of azure while wispy white clouds drifted in the distance. Flocks of drones flew all around to deliver parcels and late breakfasts while hover cars danced, delivering execs and guests to various platforms. There were even a few flying high gleams descending from the town hall tower in tight formation. Nestra wasn’t sure but she thought they might be Tiger Den from the white, black-striped uniform. Not lightweights for sure.

The train slowly eased into the Beacon of Riel building where at least a dozen other tubes converged. It proved easy to weave her way through the crowded corridors of Central Station since people, even gleams, gave her a wide berth. And to think she hadn’t even picked up her sword. Mana was thick here, surprisingly so, and she just felt comfortable. The lack of visor forced her to stop and look at directions for the first time in forever instead of letting the map AI guide her in the most effective way possible. Thankfully, the Beacon was designed for streamlined traffic.

In order to reach the exam center, she had to transfer to the Guardian Tower which was the military heart of Threshold. An imposing gray slab, it was offered a sober counterpart to the glittery Beacon of Riel and the solemn Town Hall to form the trinity that was the city’s heart. The three remained a miracle of engineering and architecture built at a time when mankind was more concerned with its immediate survival. Nestra rode a funicular up in the company of a group of augs in the blue uniform of the Threshold military. They didn’t give her shit though she could tell they were ready to jump her. It was very optimistic of them.

The interior of the Guardian tower was surprisingly spacious. Or at least, this lobby was. She walked confidently to the slate-colored welcome booth, only to be accosted by a severe man in uniform. He carefully checked Nestra’s ID badge before leading her deeper in at a brisk pace.

“Everything is ready to begin, if you will follow me. The testing facility is the one we use to assess the progress of military users and contractors. It is one of the most secure places on the planet.”

Nestra didn’t reply which didn’t seem to faze her guide. He led her through neatly labeled doors and winding corridors, waving past checkpoints without stopping. The soldiers progressively switched from admin type to heavily auged grunts though they were not in battle gear. They finally reached the testing level after taking an elevator. If asked, Nestra would be absolutely unable to tell which way was the nearest exit.

On the testing level, the dull thud of firearms could be heard even through reinforced windows. Nestra walked past ranges, gyms, and workshops where soldiers practiced under the vigilant glare of examiners. Clearly Threshold kept its fighters in tip top shape.

Her guide led her deeper still. Gleams soon became the norm. Nestra was intrigued by their gear, as many of them wore highly sophisticated exo-armor. Her senses picked up a lot of portal material in those and yet they were clearly high-tech, with sensors and other gizmos she couldn’t identify. Those gleams gave her long hard looks which she didn’t return. Talk to the mask was feeling more and more like a perfect strategy when dealing with unwanted social situations. Eventually, they reached a locked vault door.

It looked like it could withstand a cruise missile.

“This is where I leave you,” her guide said.

She nodded her understanding. He saluted crisply, then left her to her fate. Two guards by the door checked her ID in excruciating detail, manually going over every entry. Nestra could spot the turret holes on the ceiling and resisted the urge to stop ‘existing’ so they couldn’t target her.

“You are clear to go in. Engaging lock,” one of them said.

She walked past the titanic gate. It closed behind her with a ponderous clank. Inside was another such lock in front of her, a door to the right, and two people. One was an auged black man built like a wardrobe on steroids. She wasn’t familiar with military insignias, but the colors on his chest screamed ‘I’m important’. As for the woman, she was stern, clearly Scandinavian and so tall even demon Nestra had to look up a little bit. From her posture to her hairstyle, to the lean muscles under her suit, not a single part of her could be called soft, but the hardest thing remained her gaze. It was steely in the most literal way, iris shining like freshly galvanized metal. They also radiated the tightly contained power of a high gleam. She didn’t need introductions but she gave them anyway.

“Good morning. I am Threshold’s head of User Military, Ragnhild Lidstrom.”

Ragnarok. The person testing her was Ragnarok. Threshold’s deadliest B-rank raider. Shinran’s right hand juggernaut and the undisputed boss of Threshold’s soldier gleams. She had been old during the incursion, gray-haired and wrinkled even as she minced monsters in the Swedish hinterlands. Now, the old slayer stood in front of Nestra, a living legend. And a proctor, apparently.

It made sense, in a way. Nestra had filled herself as transitioning to C-rank with minimum information, and as part of the induction, she was to get into the sanctum of Threshold’s military though obviously under surveillance. That must have triggered all sorts of red flags. No wonder they didn’t take any chances. But damn, talk about overkill.

That was fine, though. Again, Nestra didn’t have to do shit. She was here legitimately. As a perfectly valid candidate, she nodded a greeting to both Ragnarok and the man who had yet to present himself.

“I’m Commander Killroy, Threshold Intelligence Agency. I represent the administrative and confidential side of things while my partner here will assess your value as a masked user when we start testing.”

He nodded towards the side door, the one that didn’t look like it was trying to stop a second Incursion.

“After you have registered of course. Now, I need to ask you a few questions as part of protocol. Are you Crescent?”

Nestra surreptitiously glanced down towards her badge. It said ‘Crescent’ in big bold letters, all caps, visible even in low light. The reason she’d picked it was simple. Sereth kept cursing her as a Scornful Crescent every time she almost succeeded in stabbing him in the groin, so she had internalized the term a little. Being called Crescent would be easy to remember, and it wasn’t too bad because it sounded a bit like ‘croissant’ and she enjoyed pastries. It was also the name of her second favorite Lazpop group.

She nodded. Yes, she was indeed Crescent.

“I need a voice confirmation, if possible. You need to acknowledge your identity.”

“Yessss. I am Crescent.”

His eyes implants flashed a few times. He was really auged to the gill and it didn’t look like cheap stuff either. She bet he would be even harder to take down than the Gidung operative she had decapitated, and that one had managed to hit her despite the glitches. Not that it mattered with Ragnarok herself in the room. Speaking of the tall woman, her eyes searched the room with a frown. Her aura fluctuated a bit. Nestra knew the rumors were that the old monster was on the verge of A rank, so perhaps she was taking a step back from raiding while the transition happened.

“Excellent, thank you. I would need voice confirmation that you consent to becoming a masked user for Threshold with all the risks it entails.”

“I do.”

“Are you aware of the confidentiality agreement between us to guarantee secrecy, including its limits? You will be given an opportunity to read the exception clauses while completing your application.”

“Yess.”

“Very well. Alright, it appears that everything is in order. Would you mind stepping in the containment room to finish the process? We will be waiting outside.”

Nestra nodded. The equally massive gate behind him opened into what looked like a high tech infirmary. Nestra moved in and it closed behind her with a smooth hiss.

“Hello,” a synthetic voice said, “I am Threshold’s Secure AI. I will guide you through the final steps.”

The room was bare except for the medical side, which had a scanner and some sampling material, and a bare console with exposed circuitry and a flashing screen. The design appeared to be intentional, though she wasn’t clear as to why.

As promised, the AI told her what to do like an exceedingly formal butler. Her first task was to bind her civilian identity with that of Crescent. To Nestra’s surprise, there were absolutely no issues doing so even though it was technically illegal not to register as a gleam. There were even options to record herself as an illegal immigrant or a complete unknown though she assumed it came with complications. As for the clauses that would lead to her identity being unmasked, what mattered was that all of them must receive the approval of Shinran himself.

Considering what Kim had hinted at, just that step would force anyone trying to ID her to be really, really confident about their claim. It was weird trying to reconcile the affable persona of the monk with the reputation he seemed to have in private. In any case, she was probably as safe as she could be between him and Sereth guarding her secret.

The medical part of the exam was expedited quickly. She had to give a blood sample but she was ready, switching back to her human form for that part. The AI didn’t comment so she figured it was fine. It only took an hour to go through the battery of tests and formalities. No drama, so far. She exited the room in demon form feeling a bit apprehensive. Ragnarok and Killroy waited outside for her like the world’s most unlikely gargoyles. The woman nodded towards the testing center.

“Now that we have dealt with the tapes, time to show me what you can do.”

Ah yes, Nestra thought. The fun part.